"we don't burn at perigee, we burn a bit earlier, around apogee" well that's probably a good thing given that perigee is currently somewhere near the ground

just broke 1000 miles from earth!

mission control calling in checks to confirm go for MCC

broadcast is showing other clips now, bit annoying. I was hoping to see the solar panels lock into the forward position ready for ICPS burn

someone surprised the host lol

oh god they forgot to install a filter in the toilet

this raised a smirk from one of the ground control staff

White Sands Test Facility has telemetry but Houston does not, investigation ongoing.

this probably explains why the video feed is potato

Houston in the blind due to the TDRSS satellite not relaying properly.

Mission Control has copied that the toilet filter was not installed as expected, they have instructed the crew to install a fresh one (thankfully they have spares!)

and while they're fixing the toilet Houston is rebooting their machines to try to get their forward radio link back up. seems like the TDRSS West switchover didn't work.

link back up!

voice check on TDRSS loud and clear both ways

host tactfully referring to the toilet as "life support" is cracking me up

Houston just told them to boot up the toilet.

host: "the uh, the uhh waste systems... onboard"

for folks who were watching a YouTube feed that stopped, you can carry on watching through NASA Live.

sounds like the space piss drama has been averted

wait no the toilet shut down with a fault light

oh no

Houston: "we're gonna have to think about that one for a while"

fucking IoT

host continuing to conspicuously avoid saying "toilet" and keeps using terms like "waste management systems"

"a question for Christina for toilet" betting she never thought those words would be broadcast to the world

imagine going through all that astronaut training, getting selected for Artemis II, and then your first publicly audible contribution to the mission is fixing the shitter

conference statement confirms TDRSS East to West switchover caused the temporary loss of forward comms - uplink from CAPCOM to crew was working, but crew to CAPCOM wasn't, hence why Houston was in the blind. they haven't disclosed the root cause, it'll probably take a while for the analysis since everyone is busy.

they've opened up the floor to questions reporters and, as is tradition, the first question is incredibly banal (about food)

the guy answering *really* sounds like Johnny Cash though

someone did ask for more info on the TDRSS issue and Amit Kshatriya referred to the crossover as "squirrelly", which I believe is the technical term.

they've confirmed we're good to go on proximity ops

confirmed temperature sensor instrumentation issue responsible for the battery problem identified prior to launch. the sensor was reading an order of magnitude off from the rest and it was clear there was no physical way for that to be a true reading, so they were happy to vote the sensor out and consider the battery within spec.

someone asked why there wasn't any public safety broadcast on site during the launch hold. panel looks at each other. apparently this was news to them and they're going to look into it.

(the guy asked it in a kinda weird way so it may well be a nothingburger, idk)

cubesats are mounted in the Orion stage adapter, so once the prox ops demo is complete they'll be deployed. unfortunately it does sound like the cameras on the spacecraft won't be able to see that deployment so we won't get a live view of it, which is a shame.

but I might be wrong, the answer was a bit handwavey and I'm getting pretty sleepy.

I think imma call it here, folks. I'd love to keep live posting but I'm exhausted. thanks for coming along for the ride.

important update: they fixed the toilet