Toilet troubles delay artemis ii's lunar dance
A routine check of systems aboard the Orion crew capsule orbiting Earth took an unexpected turn Saturday, as a malfunctioning space toilet forced NASA engineers into a troubleshooting dance and slightly altered the mission timeline for the Artemis II astronauts. Just as the crew—Commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen—passed a remarkable milestone, realizing they were closer to the moon than to Earth, the onboard plumbing presented a challenge.
A cosmic bathroom break
The crew, who launched Wednesday on this historic voyage, have experienced intermittent issues with the spacecraft’s toilet since liftoff. Instead of utilizing the standard facilities, they’ve been relying on collapsible contingency urinals, affectionately known as CCUs. The problem arose when flight controllers were unable to dump the stored urine overboard, potentially due to a frozen vent line. Veteran astronaut Don Pettit, weighing in from social media, explained the ingenious design of the CCUs: ‘essentially an open container… that controls the urine-air interface.’ A far cry from the 25 pounds of diapers NASA considered as a contingency.
Baking out the lunar journey
To address the issue, mission control implemented a clever strategy, a “bake out,” reorienting the Orion capsule to expose the waste water vent nozzle to direct sunlight in hopes of thawing any suspected ice. The team monitored the process with cameras, carefully documenting the attempt to restore functionality. “We have increased the heater temperatures on the nozzle and the lines themselves,” communicated mission control, “and we're hoping that if the problem is the freezing of the vent lines. then this will give us a chance to solve that.” This maneuver necessitated a slight adjustment to the crew’s schedule, pushing some activities to later in the mission.
Beyond earth's gaze
Despite the technical hiccup, the mission continues to deliver stunning visuals. Friday, the crew captured a breathtaking image of Earth, a delicate crescent hanging in the stark blackness of space. Koch described the view of the far side of the moon as “a beautiful sight,” a thrill experienced by the four astronauts as they venture further into the lunar sphere of influence. The opportunity to observe the lunar far side—a region never directly witnessed by human eyes—is a singular advantage of this mission.
Piloting by hand and mapping the unknown
Later in the day, Wiseman and Glover were scheduled to take the helm, manually piloting the Orion capsule to refine engineers’ understanding of spacecraft performance. The crew also dedicated time to reviewing plans for detailed video and camera mapping of the lunar surface, an essential task as they approach the far side on Monday. Close approach is expected at 7:03 p.m. EDT, at an altitude of approximately 4,100 miles. The mission’s ability to provide a firsthand perspective of this unexplored territory underscores the significance of Artemis II—a critical step towards sustained lunar exploration and, ultimately, a return to the Moon.