When Neil Armstrong famously took one small step onto the lunar surface, humanity leapt into a new era of space exploration. But Armstrong and his fellow astronauts left behind more than just footprints—they also left bags of human waste.

Now, decades later, scientists are eager to study these abandoned materials to understand how life endures in harsh environments.

“Do it in the suit,” was the advice given to the first American in space, Alan Shepherd, in 1961 when he needed to urinate during his mission.

Since then, waste management in space has become a sophisticated affair, as astronaut suits and spacecraft have been fitted with advanced systems to collect and process human excreta.

John Glenn’s mission in 1962 introduced the first urine collection system in a spacesuit—a latex roll-on cuff and plastic collection bag. The design informed the waste management systems used throughout the space shuttle program and stands as a testament to space exploration’s ingenuity. Nowadays, astronauts’ liquid waste is recycled into drinkable water on the ISS, boasting a recovery rate of about 90%.

But back during the Apollo missions, such technology was in its infancy. Astronauts relieved themselves using roll-on cuffs and bags, and on the lunar surface, they donned “maximum absorbency garments”—essentially diapers. This waste was discarded, leaving behind an unexpected legacy on the Moon.

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, experienced the reality of human biology in space quite directly. During his historic moonwalk, he had to deal with a broken urine collection device, causing him to slosh around in his pee.

The crew of Apollo 11 also faced the homely issues of body odor. Michael Collins, the pilot of the Apollo 11 command module, described the scent inside their vehicle as a mix of wet dog and farts. This personal detail reminds us of the gritty, human side of these historic missions.

Decades on, these waste materials have piqued the interest of scientists. With NASA aiming to further lunar exploration and set up a habitable space station around the Moon, the question arises: could the microbes in astronaut waste have survived?

The lunar surface, devoid of an atmosphere and subject to extreme temperature swings, is a hostile place for life as we know it. However, Earth’s microbes are resilient, having been found in the most inhospitable environments—from thermal vents to deep under ice. Could some of these microbes have withstood the brutal lunar environment?

Astronaut Charlie Duke, who was on the moon for Apollo 16, suspects everything would have been sanitized by solar radiation. Nonetheless, the bags of waste represent the most extreme environment Earth’s microbes have ever encountered.

The potential survival of these microbes is not just a question of scientific curiosity. It has profound implications for our understanding of life’s resiliency and the potential for accidental contamination or even the seeding of life on other celestial bodies. As humanity looks to Mars and beyond, the lessons from these studies could inform protocols to prevent biological contamination.

Meanwhile, the notion that life on Earth could have been seeded by microbes from another world isn’t out of the realm of scientific speculation. If Earth’s life could survive on the moon or journey through space, could such an event have contributed to life’s emergence on our own planet?

As we ponder future lunar missions and a potential human venture to Mars, we are reminded that science often works in mysterious ways—sometimes through the study of abandoned astronaut diapers on the Moon.

These remnants of human exploration, these dirty diapers and bags of waste, might hold the secrets to life’s tenacity in the cosmos.

Relevant articles:
– How do astronauts use the bathroom in space?, space.com
– Buzz Aldrin sloshed around in pee on the moon (and 11 other Apollo facts), Popular Science
– Buzz Aldrin peed his pants on the moon and 18 other wild facts you never learned about NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, Business Insider
– Apollo astronauts left their poop on the moon. We gotta go back for that shit., Vox