Spaceflight 🚀

RE: https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/116349209451650810

#Orion was maneuvered into an orientation such that the urine tank and vent lines received the maximum amount of sunshine ☀️ to un-freeze the #urine. This helped a little bit, but did not entirely solve the problem. So for now, the #astronauts are continuing to pee into, essentially, bags

#Artemis

Apr 5 at 12:35amWeb
Show threadEarl2d ago

@spaceflight
Did you hear about the intermittent blizzards they are seeing?

There have been other concerns. The first night they lost sleep because of constant warnings ringing about a cabin pressure leak.

https://mast.john1126.com/@Earl/116342656840166765

Show threadSpaceflight 🚀1d ago
@Earl I assume with "intermittent blizzards" you mean visual effects caused by radiation ? I couldn't find any reports on this
Show threadEarl1d ago

@spaceflight
It could be related to waste dumps. Are they dumping their urine and fecal matter into space? I am not sure about that, but the quote about blizzards was spoken by the crew, recorded in the live stream:

https://mast.john1126.com/@Earl/116349690274272044

#Artemis #toilet

Show threadSpaceflight 🚀1d ago
@Earl The Artemis II toilet separates urine for release into space and stores feces for disposal after their return to Earth. “it appears to me that we probably have some frozen urine in the vent line” https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/04/science/artemis-2-toilet-malfunction
More than half way to the moon, the Artemis II astronauts are grappling with a toilet problem

A toilet issue is plaguing the four astronauts on the Artemis II mission as the Orion capsule hurtles nearly 200,000 miles from Earth on its way to the moon.

CNN