A Northrop Grumman rocket took off from the Virginia coast on Friday carrying a one-of-its-kind $23 million "female-friendly" space toilet for the crew on the International Space Station.

With a weight of nearly 100 pounds and measuring 28 inches tall, the new ISS amenity is around half as big as the two Russian-made toilets that are already being used at the space station. NASA's latest design is about 65 percent more compact and nearly half as light compared to the ones currently used in orbit which was designed in the 1990s.

The astronauts will give the recently-designed orbital toilet a test run for the next few months. According to Collins Aerospace's Jim Fuller, who built the new high-tech utility, "when the astronauts have to go, we want to enable them to just boldly go," CBS News quoted him as saying.

The toilet's advanced Universal Waste Management System – a vacuum system that sucks waste from the body in a zero-gravity environment – was specifically engineered for the comfort of female astronauts, unlike previous designs.

The high-tech toilet system also features a 3D-printed double-fan divider made of titanium to allow a strong airflow that, in lieu of microgravity, helps to pull the astronauts' urine and waste into the device. The toilet, which is fully automatic, also features foot restraints and handlebars to keep the users from floating away. For comfort and privacy, the appliance is placed inside a cubicle - just like in a public toilet on Earth.

But, the most amazing thing about NASA's creation is this: the device can recycle and process urine as drinking water for the space crew. As astronaut Jessica Meir said, on the space station "today's coffee is tomorrow's coffee," BBC quoted her as saying.

The Cygnus cargo ship was packed with supplies, including science gear, food, clothing, a high-resolution camera to be used to record a forthcoming spacewalk, and 10 bottles of Estee Lauder cosmetics that will be featured in a commercial photo shoot.

The program is part of an ongoing campaign by NASA to encourage more use of low-Earth orbit from the private sector. According to a Bloomberg report, Estee Lauder is paying NASA $128,000 for the space photoshoot.

NASA's toilet design enhancements will be put to the test on the space station before they are manufactured into Orion capsules that will transport astronauts to the Moon. Cleaning up a mess aboard the ISS is very important. "We don't want any misses or escapes," NASA project manager Melissa McKinley said during a media briefing on Thursday.