Space exploration has its glamorous moments. But when the bathroom breaks down, astronauts adapt.
The crew of Artemis II — three Americans and one Canadian en route to becoming the first humans to fly to the Moon in over half a century — are dealing with a toilet that has been unreliable since Wednesday’s liftoff. Mission Control instructed them to use backup urine collection bags until engineers can implement a proper fix.
The likely culprit is ice blocking a line that prevents urine from fully flushing overboard. The toilet still works for solid waste, according to NASA officials, though the crew has reported an odor coming from the bathroom area, which is tucked into the capsule floor behind a door and curtain.
The current crew — Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen — have continued with mission objectives as normal. The crew is photographing the far side of the Moon as Orion arcs around its lunar flyby. Their journey is on track to set a new distance record for human spaceflight, traveling more than 252,000 miles from Earth before executing a U-turn behind the Moon and heading home.
Artemis II carries several historical firsts beyond the distance milestone. Hansen is the first non-U.S. citizen to fly to the Moon. Koch is the first woman and Glover is the first Black astronaut on a lunar mission. The crew will splash down in the Pacific around April 10, completing a nearly 10-day mission.
NASA’s long-term plan for a sustainable lunar presence remains on track, with a crewed landing near the Moon’s south pole targeted for 2028. This mission serves as the first step in what the agency envisions as a lasting human footprint on the Moon.
Read the full mission coverage at AP News, and learn how the Apollo program paved the way for Artemis.