It wasn’t the most glamorous milestone in spaceflight history, but it was one of the most pressing.
Shortly after Artemis II’s launch on 1 April, NASA confirmed the crew had reported a blinking fault light with the onboard the Orion’s capsule toilet.
“The toilet fan is reported to be jammed,” NASA spokesperson Gary Jordan said during live mission commentary.
“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.”
Credit: NASA TV
Working closely with mission control in Houston, the crew was able to restore the spacecraft’s toilet to normal operations.
The fault light had appeared ahead of the apogee raise burn on 1 April, which is when the spacecraft fires its boosters to enter a higher orbit around Earth, in preparation for the onward journey to the Moon.
NASA says mission controllers successfully assessed the data and helped the crew troubleshoot and resolve the issue.
The toilet in question is the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS), which is a critical piece of hardware that, as we explain in our guide to life aboard the Artemis II mission, uses airflow to draw waste away from the body in the weightless environment of space.
The Artemis II toilet is so loud, the crew must wear ear protection while availing of the lavatorial facilities.
The crew’s Plan B in the event of a broken toilet
Had the fix not worked, NASA says it had a contingency plan in place: a bag-based backup system to collect urine for venting into space, with solid waste still collected in the capsule.
Astronaut Christina Koch signed off on day one by thanking mission control for ‘an awesome first day,’ with the crew settling in for their first sleep period before an orbit correction burn on 2 April.
For more on how the Artemis II crew will live, eat, and yes – use the toilet – during their journey around the Moon, read our guide to What life will really be like for the Artemis II crew
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