WINNIPEG – Manitobans already worried about having COVID-19 now worry about needing diapers, while astronauts get a porta potty of a different kind.

A cargo rocket carrying a new, $23 million space toilet, among 3 tonnes of other supplies, is scheduled to lift off for the International Space Station just before 9:30 tonight. Though more than 400 km from earth, the three humans traveling above us at 27,000+ km/h always have somewhere to go – People waiting in line for hours to get tested for COVID-19? Not so much.

Residents neighbouring the Drive-Thru Community Testing Site on Main St between Church and Anderson Avenues are getting peeved about people peeing next to their vehicles and squatting in their back lanes. During the past week, lines at Winnipeg’s only drive-through COVID-19 testing site have seen averages upwards of four hours, stretching around a kilometre along Main, Mountain, and Charles Avenue.

As neighbours call for portable toilets, Health Minister Cameron Friesen says a new testing site will open in the city later this week.

Meanwhile, astronauts doing tests of a different kind will open the lid of an experimental space potty (and unbox $128,000-worth of skincare serum).