NASA Renamed Their Condom Sizes After Astronauts Kept Picking 'Large' (Even if It Didn't Fit)

Even spacemen are insecure.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Even though astronauts have one of the coolest jobs on the planet, the rocket they take off in doesn't always make up for the rocket nature gave them.

In this interview with astronaut Rusty Schweickart in 1976, he describes how they used condoms as part of their urination system while in space: while they're out, they’d have a condom fitted to their penis, which would hook up to a filtration system that would store their urine away once they relieve themselves. Easy enough.

One size doesn't fit all, so astronauts had to order a condom that would fit their penis, with three sizes to choose from: small, medium, and large. What ended up happening was astronauts would pick ‘large’, regardless if it wasn't their size (remember, there are lady astronauts aboard.) The problem with this is when an astronaut needs to take a leak and his penis is fitted with a large condom that he can’t fill out, his piss is going to end up all over the suit—and his secret won’t exactly be a secret anymore.

How did NASA fix this problem?

They renamed the sizes to large, gigantic, and humongous.

[via i09]

Latest in Pop Culture