As astronauts from NASA’s Artemis II mission head to the Moon this weekend, the test flight has gone surprisingly well, without any major problems — except for one piece of equipment that has given the crew a headache: the bathroom.
The Orion capsule, built by Lockheed Martin and responsible for taking the Artemis II crew to the Moon, is equipped with the so-called Universal Waste Management System (UWMS), the universal waste management system that astronauts use during the 10-day mission. It’s basically the same “space bathroom” used on the International Space Station (ISS).
But getting this complex equipment to work properly in flight has proven to be a challenge.
Continues after advertising
The UWMS has a funnel and a urine hose, as well as a seat with a hole for solid needs. Because astronauts are in microgravity, the toilet relies on airflow to pull waste into the system and ensure the capsule stays clean. The crew can also use foot straps and handholds to keep themselves in position.
On the first day of Artemis II’s flight, shortly after the crew arrived in space, the bathroom reported a problem. Mission specialist Christina Koch, who jokingly called herself a “space plumber,” managed to get the system back into operation with help from Mission Control.
The problem, it turned out, was with the bathroom pump, which needed more water to get it wet enough and “primed” to work.
“Once we realized we hadn’t put in enough water, we put more in, made sure it was essentially primed — that the pump was primed — and then the toilet came back on,” explained Judd Frieling, Artemis II ascent flight director.
But not so fast.
The bathroom had problems again. Unlike the International Space Station, where sewage is contained, treated and recycled in a closed-loop system, on the Artemis II mission wastewater is periodically discharged into space throughout the journey. During these releases, bright particles can be seen passing through Orion’s windows, as shown in videos taken by the crew.
Continues after advertising
In one of these discharges, the process was interrupted earlier than expected. NASA suspected that the accumulation of ice could be blocking the ventilation nozzle that allows sewage to exit into space.
While investigating the problem, the agency decided that for safety, the crew should stop using the bathroom to urinate.
“Copy, we’re ‘no go’ to the bathroom,” Koch confirmed at one point.
Continues after advertising
The problem is that there is little space available to store urine.
“The capsule’s urine tank is about the size of a small office trash can,” Debbie Korth, deputy manager of NASA’s Orion program, said at a press conference. “So we need to make sure we can empty it before we put anything else in there.”
The crew, however, continued to be allowed to use the bathroom for solid needs, as this type of waste is collected in waterproof bags. As an alternative to urine, astronauts can use so-called Collapsible Contingency Urinals (CCUs), cylindrical, collapsible containers designed to control the flow of liquids.
Continues after advertising
“We are capable of doing extraordinary things in space today, but getting this capability right [do banheiro] It’s something we clearly still need to work on,” said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman on the program State of the Unionfrom CNN, on Sunday.
Sun rays
Problems with ice in space bathrooms are nothing new.
In 1984, the crew of the space shuttle mission STS-41-D had to resort to emergency bags after the toilet failed. The villain, in that case, was also the accumulation of ice that was protruding from the bathroom ventilation duct. The astronauts were able to remove the ice by using the Shuttle’s robotic arm to loosen it, but that didn’t save them from wearing bags for much of the mission.
Continues after advertising
To resolve the problem on Artemis II, NASA decided to “heat up” the situation. The agency positioned Orion so that the bathroom ventilation duct would “bake” in the sun for a few hours, melting the ice. The strategy seemed to work. The crew performed some test discharges; in one of them, the flow began to be limited.
Finally, late Saturday, the good news came from Mission Control.
“Breaking news,” a communicator from NASA’s Johnson Space Center told the crew. “We have a result of the discussions down here about tank ventilation and at this point you are ‘go’ for all types of bathroom use.”
© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.
