Apr 09, 2026
3 min read
The problems that the first shower brought with the door of the lunar mission made it an unexpected hot spot for astronauts.
Artemis 2 noisy bathroom: three breakdowns, frozen urine and a “mysterious smell”
The problems that come with the first bathroom with a door to the moon have become an unexpected place for space travel.
About an hour after Artemis 2 took off, NASA officials discovered a problem: the toilet wasn't working.
It was the first time in history that a manned mission to the moon carried a toilet with a doorMore than half a century ago, astronauts on the Apollo missions escaped in bags anywhere on the ship.In 1968, during the first mission to orbit the moon, Apollo 8, the commander became ill and did not know how to properly handle the bags.As the three astronauts prepared to make history, they had to spend time filling up on feces and vomit floating in the weightlessness of space.
At this time, a mixed group walks aboard Artemis 2: Captain Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, who becomes the first African-American to go to the moon, Christina Koch, the first woman, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, the first person from outside the United States to make this trip.The new system, with a cost of 23 million euros according to Wired, has an air suction system that prevents leaks.
The failure of the first launch vehicle was announced on Wednesday during a press conference after the launch, with the participation of the head of the agency, astronaut and astronaut Jared Isaacman.Mission officials explained that they were in the process of making repairs.
After a few hours, Texas With the help of the Mission Control Center in Houston, it was Koch who was the expert to fix the error."I'm a space plumber, and I'm proud," said Koch in the first live link after the successful launch.The fault appeared to be in the valve which had been removed due to the vibration of the plug, which did not allow the toilet to flush.
Add-on for a bathroom
The so-called Universal Waste Disposal System, the technical name given to it by NASA, is a bin located near the entrance on the Orion spacecraft. When astronauts enter and close them during a space flight, they lose track of what is above or below, as Koch himself explained in a video recorded by National Geographic before the launch. The passenger cabin is equipped with handholds and footrests that allow sitting on a hole prepared for collection or useIn a urinal with an auxiliary funnel, this system offers the option of recycling urine for later use as drinking water on future missions.The main problem with the device is that it is so powerful that astronauts have to wear earplugs.
After the first step, the control center had to tell the astronauts not to use the bathroom.One of the nozzles that push the jumpers' urine out is blocked, and there is a risk that the tank will fill up.The problem is that urine is stuck in that nozzle.The control center solved the problem by turning the Orion spacecraft and letting the sun hit the channel, which solved this second problem.
The new bathroom sparked a third scare that has yet to be resolved.Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen detected a burning smell.When he opened the toilet door, so did the rest of the crew.The same smell was present on the ship on the day of the launch."It was kind of a burning smell to me," Hansen told the Houston Review.the crew smelled it almost immediately,” he added.
Before leaving, the crew was warned that there could be a smell similar to when the electric heater was turned on.At first it was thought that the plastic cover of the toilet might overheat.
At a press conference on Tuesday, NASA officials spoke of a "mysterious object" whose origin is still unknown.In any case, NASA engineers believe that it will not affect the service's performance, so in theory it will continue to work until it is possible to find out where the strange smell is.
The Orion toilet was the focus of the Artemis 2 crew's first live conference with US President Donald Trump and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman after they restored communications with Earth after a planned 40-minute outage while flying over the far side of the moon. The mission accomplished all of its goals. The four on Artemis 2 were the first humans to see entire regions of the far side. Side. They also broke a recorddistance from our planet, and became the farthest astronauts in space.Even under these conditions, the toilet was discovered.When one of the astronauts commented on how the toilets worked during the mission, Isaacman replied: "We definitely need to improve the plumbing."
Your subscription is being used on another device
Want to add another user to your subscription?
If you continue reading on this device, it will not be available to read on another device.
ArrowYour subscription is being used on another device and you can only access EL PAÍS from one device at a time.
If you want to share your account, change your subscription to premium mode so you can add one user.Everyone signs in with their own email account, so you can customize your EL PAÍS experience.
Do you have a business subscription?Go here to sign up for multiple accounts.
If you do not know who is using your account, we recommend that you change your password here.
If you choose to continue sharing your account, this message will appear on your device and on the device of anyone else who uses your account indefinitely, affecting your reading experience.You can see the terms and conditions of your digital subscription here.
