23 million dollars down the drain, literally. In space!

Artemis II just broke history by going the farthest in space we have ever gone. Getting a good look at what is in space with the beautiful pictures they took of all the other planets. Before they officially launched, they had a few problems that pushed back their original launch date. Such as “faulty capsule hatch design, serious heat shield degradation, and, as of early 2026, propellant leaks and life-support issues.” After pushing it back a month and fixing the problems, April 1st arrived, and it was officially time for the launch. At 6:35 PM EDT, they launched off and successfully started their journey to orbit around the moon, farther than any other human has before. 

Before this launch, there were a lot of videos and articles online about the toilet that would be installed on the shuttle. This toilet is a big step towards gender equality in space as it features accommodate both male and female anatomy.  It is also “the first advanced, ergonomic toilet designed for deep-space travel. Unlike Apollo's waste bags, this $23-million unit offers suction, privacy, and better sanitation for long-duration, mixed-gender crews.” While on their mission, the space toilet ended up malfunctioning. Something was wrong. 

Credit - Canadian Space Agency

There had been a slight "priming" issue with the toilet. Christina Koch, one of the mission specialists, claimed in an interview that she was “the plumber” and fixed the toilet herself. "I'm proud to call myself the space plumber. I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board.” Prior to the new toilet design, the astronauts had to resort to using urine bags to collect their waste. This is a process that isn't enjoyable for astronauts, as, on the Apollo mission, the bags with waste ended up floating around and were overall super unsanitary. After the toilet malfunction, NASA later confirmed after the mission that a wastewater vent line had clogged. 

Many people were frustrated that the toilet didn’t work after so much hype around it and the price tag as well, while others see this accident as another way to improve the quality and grow from their mistakes. After all, these people weren’t the astronauts having to use them in the end. 

Sources-

1. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87wy05wr4no

2. https://www.facebook.com/SpaceXFP/posts/the-orion-hatch-issue-has-led-to-the-postponement-of-the-launch-day-rehearsal-fo/896570872890970/

3. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/artemis-iis-toilet-is-a-moon-mission-milestone/#:~:text=The%20space%20agency's%20Universal%20Waste,International%20Space%20Station