‘Houston, we have a problem’: astronauts fix loo aboard Artemis II

NASA said the Artemis II crew restored Orion’s toilet to normal operation after reporting a blinking fault light during the first day of the Moon mission

The Artemis II crew can now boldly go…after fixing a problem with Orion’s toilet, NASA has revealed.

Astronauts on the first crewed lunar mission in more than 50 years worked with mission control in Houston to restore the toilet to normal operations following the mission’s proximity operations demonstration.

NASA said the crew reported the blinking fault light within the opening hours of their mission on April 1. Ground teams assessed the data and then worked with the astronauts to troubleshoot and resolve the issue.

The incident came during the first day of the 10-day Artemis II mission, which launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday evening and is due to carry four astronauts around the Moon and back.

With the toilet issue resolved, the crew were scheduled to take a four-hour nap before being awakened at 7am EDT on Thursday, April 2, to prepare for the perigee raise burn.

NASA said that burn would lift the lowest point of Orion’s orbit around Earth. Together with the apogee raise burn completed earlier, it will shape the spacecraft’s initial orbit and prepare it for later translunar operations.

The crew were then expected to resume their sleep period at about 9.40am.

READ MORE: ‘Artemis II lifts off for Moon mission – here is what the astronauts will be doing day by day‘. From spacesuit drills and radiation shelter tests to a close pass of the lunar far side, NASA’s Artemis II crew face a packed 10-day schedule after the first crewed launch towards the Moon in more than 50 years.

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_{Main image: The Artemis II crew – Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen – during training at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center ahead of the first crewed mission around the Moon in more than 50 years. Credit: NASA}