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Lunar Loo Back in Order
NASA says engineers are working to restore Orion’s toilet after a controller issue left the urine-collection system unusable during Artemis 2.
- On Wednesday, April 1, 2026, the four astronauts aboard NASA's Artemis 2 mission reported a malfunction with their Orion spacecraft's space toilet, with a jammed fan affecting urine collection capabilities.
- Known as the 'hygiene bay,' the Universal Waste Management System was built by Lockheed Martin to provide privacy and waste management during the 10-day mission around the moon.
- Mission specialist Christina Koch noted the initial issue, while Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen previously praised the toilet as 'the one place we can go during the mission where we can actually feel like we're alone for a moment.'
- NASA spokesperson Gary Jordan said, 'The toilet fan is reported to be jammed,' adding that ground teams are providing instructions to clear the fan while the fecal collection system remains fully functional.
- Unlike Apollo-era flights that relied on plastic bags for all waste, the Artemis program aims to land astronauts on the moon by 2028 and establish a permanent moon base by 2032.
19 Articles
19 Articles
The 45 billion won space toilet briefly malfunctioned, and an astronaut plastic bag incident occurred on the way to the moon; now that repairs have been successfully completed, the astronauts are cheering. NASA's manned exploration spacecraft Artemis 2, heading to the moon for the first time in 54 years, faced an unexpected problem immediately after launch. Developed by NASA at a cost of approximately 45 billion won...
A toilet is on board a spacecraft on a deep space mission for the first time ever.
The three astronauts and an astronaut of Mission Artemis 2 have probably the most expensive toilet on board in their space capsule, costing 23 million dollars. But there was a small breakdown – not the first in Nasa's history.
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