Artemis 2 $30 million toilet breaks, Christina Koch improvises repairs
NASA's Artemis 2 mission has run into some very real bathroom problems.
Their fancy $30 million space toilet, the Universal Waste Management System, broke down just after launch when the fan jammed, so astronaut Christina Koch had to step up as an impromptu "space plumber."
Unfortunately, that was just the start.
Orion switches to CCUs, bags waste
Things got messier when frozen urine blocked a vent tube, forcing the team to rotate their Orion spacecraft so sunlight could thaw it out.
Even then, ice kept building up and by Monday, roughly five days into the mission, the toilet was out of order for a third time.
The crew switched to backup Collapsible Contingency Urinals (CCUs) for pee and are storing solid waste in bags until they get back to Earth.
"I think the fixation on the toilet is kind of human nature," Honeycutt told reporters Saturday evening after the toilet broke down for a second time. "Everybody knows how important that is to us here on Earth. And it's harder to manage in space."