UH, HOUSTON...

NASA’s Artemis II Suffers Space Toilet Catastrophe on First Day

The astronauts are dealing with toilet trouble less than 24 hours into their mission.

NASA’s high-tech Artemis II had a smooth launch from Florida on Wednesday—but things did not totally go to plan once in space. After rocketing four astronauts on a mission that is set to see them slingshot around the moon and back to Earth in 10 days, its crew reported that a problem with a toilet fan rendered it unusable for “number one,” the New York Post reported. “The toilet fan is reported to be jammed,” NASA spokesperson Gary Jordan told Space.com. “Now the ground teams are coming up with instructions on how to get into the fan and clear that area to revive the toilet for the mission.” In the meantime, astronauts reportedly employed their contingency “waste management capabilities specifically for urine.” The toilet issue, which Mission Control says has since been fixed, did not render the bathroom totally unusable. “The fecal collection of the toilet, that specific capability, can still be used with the waste management system aboard Orion,” Jordan said.