What's more, after consultations, the Russians have been recommended to use their own rations and to crap only in the Russian toilet. The Americans will eat only US rations and their shitter is not to be used as a Russian dumping ground.

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka told Novaya Gazeta newspaper that the lack of sharing was lowering the crew`s morale. "What is going on has an adverse effect on our work," said Mr Padalka, the veteran of two space missions who is to be the next commander.

Part of the reason for the lack of entante cordialle has been the influx of space tourists, which has led to Moscow billing the US for sending some astronauts to the station. Until now, only three astronauts worked at any one time on the station, but this will increase to six, putting added pressure on the available few orbiting commodes.

Are these two nations going to fall out again and restart the cold war over what is purely a small fecal matter? It would be a shame if the pretext for this new distrust was not a build up of nuclear ICBMs along borders, but a build up of toxic space turds floating in a tin can above the Earth.