More than halfway through their journey to the Moon, the four astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission are dealing with a recurring technical issue following Wednesday’s launch from Kennedy Space Center.
The spacecraft’s Orion capsule has experienced another malfunction involving its toilet system, marking the second such problem since liftoff.
“During the night, we tried to vent the wastewater tank that’s attached to the toilet. We had problems with that, due to suspected blockage we think probably due to ice. So we directed the crew overnight to use their collapsible contingency urine devices,” Artemis II flight director Judd Frieling said during a news conference on Saturday.
This is not the first time the crew has encountered trouble with the onboard restroom. A similar malfunction occurred on the mission’s opening day, shortly after launch, and has persisted as a concern throughout the flight.
Despite the setbacks, NASA officials have reassured that the system remains usable. Debbie Korth, the agency’s deputy manager for the Orion program, emphasized that the issue is being managed as part of the mission’s testing objectives.
” You know, this is a test flight. We’re figuring out how these systems work together, but it is operable, and we have redundancy to get us through the mission,” she stated.
NASA further clarified that while challenges remain, the toilet is still functional for solid waste disposal.
“Space toilets and bathrooms are something everybody can really understand .. it’s always a challenge,” Korth added.
The astronauts have also reported an unusual odor coming from the bathroom, which is located beneath the capsule floor.
“Regarding the smell, I just wanted to make sure you all were tracking the EGS notes of the kind of burning heater smell that was coming from toilet several times,” astronaut Christina Koch, who assisted in addressing the issue earlier in the week, told mission control on Saturday, according to Space.com.
Orion is expected to enter lunar orbit on Monday before beginning its journey back to Earth.
