It's bad enough when the toilet gets clogged at home; it could be a lot more serious in space, especially with visitors on the way.

NASA said Wednesday that the liquid waste handling function of the toilet at the International Space Station (ISS) had malfunctioned the day before and that the three astronauts aboard had to use the toilet at the Soyuz capsule moored at the station.

While one of the crew was using the Russian-made toilet last week, the toilet motor fan stopped working after “it made a loud noise”, according to NASA. Since then, the liquid waste gathering part of the toilet has been working on-and-off.

Fortunately, the solid waste collecting part is functioning normally.

Eventually the two Russians and one American at the orbiting station were able to fix up a "urine bypass" on the ISS toilet, located on the Zvezda module, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.

NASA spokeswoman Nicole Cloutier told reporters that the space shuttle Discovery, scheduled to arrive at the ISS Monday with seven astronauts aboard, would be carrying toilet parts to help repair the station's prickly plumbing.

"It's not really an emergency, they have many options available if they need," Cloutier said from the Johnson Space Center in Texas.

"There is another toilet ready to fly in the fall, in order to have two toilets on board for when they'll have the expanded crew of six" at the ISS, she said.

家里的马桶堵了就够闹心的了，如果太空上的厕所坏了那会更糟糕，尤其在还要来客人的时候。

美国宇航局于本周三称，国际空间站的液体排污装置于前一天罢工，站内的三名宇航员只能暂时用固定在站上的Soyuz太空船（返回）舱内的厕所应急。

据介绍，上周一名宇航员上厕所时，“马桶突然发出一声很大的声响”，厕所的风扇就不转了。之后，马桶的液体排污装置就老出故障。

幸好固体排污部分还能正常运作。

据美国宇航局介绍，最后空间站上的两名俄罗斯宇航员和一名美国宇航员在位于“星辰服务舱”内的马桶上安装了一个尿液收集器。

美国宇航局的女发言人妮可•克劳蒂尔在接受记者采访时说，将于下周一抵达国际空间站的“发现号”航天飞机将送去修理马桶所需要的零件。此次“发现号”将搭载七名宇航员飞赴太空。

克劳蒂尔在位于得克萨斯州的约翰逊航天中心说：“这还算不得紧急情况，如果需要的话他们有很多可供选择的应急方法。”

她说：“今年秋天还要向空间站送一个厕所，以后空间站有了六名宇航员，就可以用两个厕所了。”