The moon-bound Artemis II crew members are ready for their historic lunar fly-around to push deeper into space than even the Apollo astronauts, but one problem remains. The onboard toilet is giving them trouble. Again.
“It’s an issue with dumping the waste out of the toilet,” Artemis II Flight Director Judd Frieling told reporters Saturday morning. “And so it appears to me that we probably have some frozen urine in the vent line.”
As AP reports, the three Americans and one Canadian will reach their destination Monday, photographing the mysterious lunar far side as they zoom around it before heading back to earth.
It is the first moon-bound crew in more than 53 years, picking up where NASA’s Apollo program left off, however the toilet system is still refusing to cooperate with mysterious “smells” emanating from the facility alongside possibly clogged plumbing.
The AP report notes:
Until the Orion capsule’s bathroom is fixed, Mission Control has instructed the astronauts to break out more of the backup urine collection bags. The so-called lunar loo malfunctioned following Wednesday’s liftoff and has been hit-and-miss ever since. A version of the Artemis II toilet was tested on the International Space Station several years ago.
Engineers suspect ice may be blocking the line that is preventing urine from completely flushing overboard. The toilet is still open for No. 2 business.
Debbie Korth, NASA’s Orion program deputy manager, confirmed the astronauts reported a smell coming from the bathroom privacy curtains, which is buried in the floor of the capsule with a door for entry and egress.
“Space toilets and bathrooms are something everybody can really understand .. it’s always a challenge,” she said, noting the space shuttle toilet was also often on the fritz.
John Honeycutt, chair of the mission management team, said it is human nature to be interested in the space commode, and even though it is “in a good state right now,” he’d like it to be working at 100 percent.
“They’re OK,” he said of the astronauts. “They trained to manage through the situation.”
This is not the first time this NASA mission has been plagued by human waste disposal problems.
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As Breitbart News reported, the moon-bound Artemis II mission crew contacted their NASA controllers just hours after launching Wednesday and told Houston they had a problem; their (ahem) onboard toilet would not work.
Specifically, the toilet fan, which removes odor and airborne particles from the restricted lavatory space aboard the 330 cubic ft Orion spacecraft, was not working and wafting smells were emanating from the toilet area after use.
Seems this problem of unexplained odors and clogged pipes has returned.
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