In brief
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s Artemis II crew has made a notable fix aboard their Orion capsule: the toilet is now operational. Astronaut Christina Koch worked with Mission Control to troubleshoot the issue after launch. However, the capsule's chilly conditions have the crew dressing warmly for the journey. Scheduled for a stunning lunar fly-around, this mission marks NASA's first translunar injection since the Apollo program. Meanwhile, the astronauts are captivated by breathtaking views of Earth from orbit.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s moonbound astronauts have reason to celebrate, and not just because their launch went so well. Their toilet is now working. The so-called lunar loo malfunctioned as soon as the Artemis II crew reached orbit Wednesday evening. Mission Control guided astronaut Christina Koch through some plumbing tricks, and she finally got it going. The bad news is that it’s so cold inside the Orion capsule — 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius) — that the four astronauts are digging into suitcases for long-sleeved clothes. Mission Control is trying to warm things up.The three Americans and one Canadian are on track to leave Earth’s orbit on Thursday night and zoom to the moon for a lunar fly-around. It will be Mission Control’s first translunar injection since Apollo’s final mission in 1972. Until then, the astronauts are savoring the views of Earth from tens of thousands of miles high. Koch told Mission Control that they can make out the entire coastlines of continents and even the South Pole, her former research station. “It is just absolutely phenomenal,” Koch reported. The mission is due to end with a Pacific splashdown on April 10. NASA is counting on the test flight to kickstart the entire Artemis program and lead to a moon landing by two astronauts in 2028. Orion’s toilet may need some design tweaks before that happens.Located on the floor with a door and curtain for privacy, the capsule’s lone toilet is based on an experimental commode that launched to the International Space Station in 2020 but was rarely used. Known as the universal waste management system, this compact toilet uses air suction instead of water and gravity to remove waste and is designed to better accommodate female astronauts.Koch and her crewmates initially had to resort to a bag and funnel system for urinating until she got the toilet working overnight. Any toilet — even a sporadic one — is better than none if you ask any of the six surviving Apollo astronauts. NASA’s Apollo capsules were too small to accommodate a commode, forcing the all-male crews to rely on bags for relief throughout their lunar journey.
