Just hours after launching the four astronauts on the Artemis II mission, which takes them around the Moon, the crew reported a problem in one of the Orion capsule’s most important places: the on-board toilet.
Astronaut Christina Koch reported a malfunction when starting the system for collecting urine in the ship’s toilet — officially known as “Universal Waste Management System”writes Space magazine.
“Toilet fan seems stuck”NASA spokesman Gary Jordan said during the mission’s live broadcast. “Ground crews are now working on instructions to intervene on the fan and fix the problem so the system can be put back into service.”
For his part, Norm Knight, director of flight operations, explained to journalists at the Kennedy Space Center that the failure would have been caused by a problem with the toilet control unit. However, NASA said astronauts could still use the toilet for solid needs, but not to collect urine, while engineers worked on a full fix.
“In the meantime, the crew is using backup systems to handle liquid waste”Jordan also said. “The solid waste collection function remains operational within Orion’s onboard waste management system.”
Later, the mission crew, working closely with the control center in Houston, was able to return the spacecraft’s toilet to normal operating parameters after completing an approach maneuver and operational demonstration, NASA said.
“We are happy to announce that the toilet can be used again”Amy Dill radioed to Koch. “We recommend that the system be allowed to reach optimum operating speed before use and run for a while afterwards.”
The toilet on board Orion is a smaller and more compact version of those used on the International Space Station. The system is integrated into the floor of the capsule and provides the Artemis II mission astronauts with a degree of privacy during use. Although Orion is more spacious than the Apollo capsules, the interior remains quite narrow — compared, in terms of volume, to the space of two SUVs.
