HOUSTON — Now more than halfway to the moon Artemis II astronauts In preparation for their historic journey around the moon Push deeper into space Even from the Apollo astronauts.
On the downside, their toilet would flash again.
the Three Americans and one Canadian They are scheduled to arrive at their destination on Monday, photographing the mysterious far side of the moon as they zoom. that it The first crew headed to the moon In over 53 years, picking up where NASA’s Apollo program I stopped.
“The Earth is very small, and the Moon is definitely getting bigger,” said pilot Victor Glover.
Until the Orion capsule’s bathroom was repaired, mission control instructed the astronauts to take out more spare urine collection bags. The so-called lunar toilet malfunctioned after liftoff on Wednesday and has been hit and miss ever since. A version of the Artemis II toilet was tested on the International Space Station several years ago.
Engineers suspect that ice may clog the line preventing urine from flowing fully into the sea. The toilet is still open for business #2.
Astronauts also reported a smell coming from a bathroom buried in the floor of the capsule with a door and curtain for privacy, said Debbie Kurth, deputy director of NASA’s Orion program.
“Space toilets and showers are something that everyone can really understand…it’s always a challenge,” she said, noting that the space shuttle toilet was also often a mess.
John Honeycutt, head of the mission management team, said caring for the spacecraft is human nature, and although it is “in good shape now,” he would like it to be 100 percent operational.
“They’re fine,” he said of the astronauts. “They are trained to deal with the situation.”
Artemis II is poised to set a distance record for humans, traveling more than 252,000 miles (400,000 km) from Earth before turning around behind the moon and returning home without stopping or entering lunar orbit. The record is currently held by Apollo 13.
The Canadian Space Agency celebrated the country’s role in the mission, speaking from Quebec with astronaut Jeremy Hansen as he headed toward his rendezvous on the moon. Hansen is the first non-American citizen to fly to the moon.
“Today makes history for Canada,” CSA President Lisa Campbell said. “As we watch him take this bold step into the unknown, let his journey remind us that Canada’s future is written by those who dare to reach further.”
On live television, Hansen said he had already witnessed “extraordinary” views from NASA’s Orion capsule.
Hansen, Glover, Reed Wiseman, and Christina Koch are the world’s first lunar astronauts since the three-person Apollo 17 crew in 1972. Koch and Glover are the first female astronauts and the first black astronauts to reach the moon, respectively.
Their nearly 10-day mission — which ends with a landing in the Pacific Ocean on April 10 — is the first step in NASA’s bold plans to create a sustainable lunar base. The space agency aims to land two astronauts near the south pole of the moon in 2028.
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