The Artemis II commander says the toilet "was wonderful", but the ventilation failed

Miami.- The commander of the Artemis II mission to the Moon, NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, stated this Thursday that the toilet they used during the space expedition "was wonderful" despite the problems it caused, which he said were associated with the ventilation system. "I just want to say, 100% directly: it was a wonderful toilet. The toilet worked great. Where we had a problem - and it was a real problem, no doubt - was in our primary ventilation line," Wiseman said at a press conference from NASA's facilities in Houston, Texas. "The toilet flushed perfectly, but when the liquid came out the bottom, it got stuck in our vent line," added the commander of the four-crew mission, who returned to Earth last Friday after orbiting the Moon.

We recommend reading:NASA reviews the performance of the Orion spacecraft's heat shield after the Artemis II mission

The toilet in the Orion capsule where the astronauts were traveling was one of the unexpected protagonists of Artemis II, which began to fail shortly after launch, despite being a $23 million investment.

Improving Toilet Ventilation, a Lesson from Artemis II

NASA explained during the course of the mission that the toilet had difficulties with the wastewater evacuation system, particularly in the part related to urine, and recommended that astronauts use alternative methods, similar to adult diapers. "Our tank can only hold, I don't know, I'm guessing, maybe less than urine; the tank holds that and then it has to be emptied," explained Wiseman, who noted that "it was fun to see how that was emptied during the first two days." "They're like a billion tiny ice flakes launched into deep space," he described. But he indicated that that primary ventilation line "clogged or blocked," for reasons still unknown, and asked the engineers of that piece to "not give up." "It was an excellent piece of equipment. And what did we learn? Well, that there are always things we need to improve," he summarized. You can also read Along with Wiseman, the other members of Artemis II - Christina Koch and Victor Glover, from NASA, and Jeremy Hansen, from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), shared anecdotes and memories this Thursday of the ten-day mission, which made them the first humans to reach the orbit of the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.