Astronaut turns plumber

Residents aboard the international space station were getting ready to take on a new task yesterday: plumbing.

The space station's toilet broke two weeks ago. The problem - confined to the urine side of the commode - has forced the orbiting outpost's crew of an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts to flush manually with extra water several times a day.

Space shuttle Discovery brought up a new pump for the testy toilet, as well as the space station's newest room, a $1 billion Japanese lab.