Just hours after the Artemis II mission successfully launched its historic deep space lunar flyby, the four-person crew experienced a problem with the Orion spacecraft’s high-tech toilet.
Artemis II mission specialist Christina Koch — the only woman onboard the 10-day mission — first reported the issue to Mission Control not long after Wednesday night’s breathtaking liftoff from Kennedy Space Center.
“The toilet fan is reported to be jammed,” NASA spokesperson Gary Jordan said during live mission commentary, according to Space.com. “Now the ground teams are coming up with instructions on how to get into the fan and clear that area to revive the toilet for the mission.”
Norm Knight, NASA’s director of flight operations, explained that the malfunction was due to a controller issue on the toilet. Officials confirmed the space potty could still be used for number two, just not for number one.
“The fecal collection of the toilet, that specific capability, can still be used with the waste management system aboard Orion,” Jordan said.
The astronauts in the meantime employed their contingency “waste management capabilities specifically for urine.”
Hours after Koch reported the issue to Mission, flight controllers walked her through the steps get the toilet up and running again.
“Houston, Integrity, good checkout,” Koch said after trying the fix as she hurtled through space.
“Happy to report that toilet is go for use,” Mission Control’s Capcom Amy Dill radioed back to Koch. “We do recommend letting the system get to operating speed before donating fluid, and then letting it run a little bit after donation.”
The new toilet aboard the 330 cubic-foot “Integrity” spacecraft was to offer the cramped astronauts the tiniest bit of privacy on their journey around the moon.
“We’re pretty fortunate as a crew to have a toilet with a door on this tiny spacecraft,” Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen said in a recent video tour of the ship before the launch.
“(It’s) the one place we can go during the mission where we can actually feel like we’re alone for a moment,” he added.
Astronauts at zero-gravity will float into the phone‑booth‑sized stall, use a hose to dispose of urine and perch on an industrial‑looking toilet seat to poop.
“The feces gets sucked down into the bottom into a bag, and you close that off and squish it down into the canister,” Hansen explained. Those canisters will ride back to Earth for disposal after the mission is over.
The urine, meanwhile, is flushed out into the void.