ISS astronaut explains how to 'number two' in space

PARIS, May 12 (UPI) -- European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti recorded a video answering the question of how International Space Station astronauts use the toilet.

Cristoforetti, an Italian astronaut serving aboard the ISS, stars in the video posted to YouTube by the ESA explaining how the station's complicated lavatory allows astronauts to take care of their business in zero gravity without creating a mess.

The astronaut explained how a fan in the mechanism creates "a suction effect" to prevent the space waste from floating away and creating a mess.

The toilet passes urine through to a mechanism that cleans and purifies the liquid waste back into water -- some of which is used for drinking -- while solid waste, or "number two" is collected in a waste tank that is emptied about every 10 days.