Pay Toilets on the International Space Station

Funny.

In a newspaper interview published just days after he blasted off for the station last month, veteran Russian astronaut Gennady Padalka said that squabbles on Earth over access to food, water, toilets and other facilities have hurt crews' morale and hampered cooperation between the Russians and Americans.

Padalka told the newspaper Novaya Gazeta that new rules were put in place after Russia started charging other space agencies for the resources used by their astronauts.

And, then there is this report on Americans not letting the Russian cosmonauts use their exercise bike:

Before leaving, he reportedly told the Novaya Gazeta that, since 2005 when space missions were put on a commercial footing and the Russians starting billing US astronauts for its services, the Americans have responded by an increasingly isolationist stance on their own facilities.

Specifically, Padalka claimed officials had "rejected his request to work out on the American exercise bike". He said: "They told me: 'Yes, you can'. Then they said 'no'. Then they hold consultations and they approve it again. And now, right before the flight, it turns out again that the answer is negative."

Sounds like a business plan - or pissing contest? - run amok.

When asked about the toilet incident, a NASA employee stated, "This is sh*#ty."