The spacecraft Orion of the Artemis II mission left Earth's orbit this Thursday and headed towards the Moon, becoming the first crewed mission to reach the vicinity of the natural satellite in over half a century.
However, before leaving Earth’s orbit, they had to overcome a rather unglamorous setback: the toilet on the Orion spacecraft stopped working.
The translunar injection maneuver lasted five minutes and 49 seconds and required a speed change of 388 meters per second for the capsule to escape from Earth's orbit.
With this milestone, the four astronauts on board - commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen - became the first humans to leave Earth's orbit since the crew of Apollo 17 traveled to the Moon in 1972.
But before that historic moment, the mission experienced its first scare: just a few hours after launch, the spacecraft's toilet stopped working.
Christina Koch was the one who reported the problem to the Control Center: "The toilet has shut off by itself and I have a flashing amber fault light."
Ground technicians guided the crew to resolve the failure remotely, and the system was restored hours later.
It was Koch herself who led the repair, and at a press conference held this Friday, she proudly embraced the nickname.
"I am the space plumber. I take pride in calling myself the space plumber," she commented with laughter.
The astronaut explained that the toilet is probably "the most important piece of equipment on board" and that the entire crew breathed a sigh of relief when it turned out to be a minor problem.
"Originally, we thought there might be something obstructing the engine, but it turned out to be fine. It was just a priming issue, having been inactive for a long time and needing to warm up. Fortunately, all systems are go," he revealed.
The Control Center also celebrated the solution in its own way.
"We are pleased to inform you that the toilet is now ready for use. We recommend allowing the system to reach its operational speed before pouring any liquid," they advised.
The Orion spacecraft is equipped with an improved titanium waste management system, which is a variant of that used on the International Space Station. It utilizes an air tube to extract waste: liquids are released into space while solids are preserved for later medical analysis.
After overcoming the setback and completing the translunar injection maneuver, the director of NASA, Jared Isaacman, celebrated on his X account that the four astronauts "are on their way to the moon."
Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Development Missions Directorate, was more solemn: "for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, humans have left Earth orbit. This is a historic moment, and we are proud to share it with the world."
Unlike Apollo 17, Artemis II will not land on the Moon; its goal is to validate the systems of the Orion spacecraft with a human crew before the planned lunar landing missions for the program.
The lunar flyby is scheduled for Monday, April 6, when the astronauts will photograph areas of the far side of the Moon that have never been seen directly by humans before returning to Earth and landing in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego, on April 10.
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