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The four crew members of NASA’s historic Artemis 2 mission around the Moon may be on one of the most epic journeys in human history — but they’re already encountering noisome sewage issues inside their cramped capsule.
NASA’s director of flight operations, Norm Knight, told reporters that a controller issue had caused the fan of the space agency’s newfangled Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) — the spacecraft’s toilet, in regular language — to jam.
That meant that the crew members were temporarily only able to use the toilet for Number Two, not One, before finally getting it fixed hours later.
“In the meantime they’re getting their contingency — their backup waste management capabilities specifically for urine,” NASA spokesperson Gary Jordan said during the space agency’s livestream, as quoted by Space.com. “The fecal collection of the toilet, that specific capability, can still be used with the waste management system aboard Orion.”
The “Collapsible Contingency Urinal” eventually filled up and needed to be emptied.
It’s an unfortunate development, considering the UWMS was specifically designed to move on from the horror stories of NASA’s Apollo missions. During early trips to the Moon, astronauts had to deal with leaks, and even a “turd floating through the air” during Apollo 8.
Fortunately, NASA astronaut Christina Koch reported some good news hours later after being walked through how to implement a fix.
“Houston, Integrity, good checkout,” she said.
“Happy to report that toilet is go for use,” mission control radioed back, deploying some euphemistic language: “We do recommend letting the system get to operating speed before donating fluid, and then letting it run a little bit after donation.”
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