Astronauts Face Toilet Challenges on Return Flight

NASA and SpaceX’s combined Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station has seen a few hiccups prior to liftoff, including bad weather, minor medical issues, and one leaky toilet.

Jeremy Kariuki

Tuesday, November 02, 2021 at 09:54 PM ET

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The Endeavour spacecraft has been experiencing an adhesive issue, where urine is leaking out of a tube connected to the storage tank, causing quite the mess underneath the capsule floor. SpaceX

Key Takeaways:

The four Crew-2 astronauts returning to Earth from the ISS in SpaceX's Crew Dragon will not use its toilet due to a urine leak issue caused by an adhesive problem.
They will have to rely on "undergarments" in their suits for the approximately six-hour return journey home.
The toilet system has already received a design improvement, which has been fully qualified for the upcoming Crew-3 mission, ensuring the issue is resolved for future flights.

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NASA is sending four astronauts up to the ISS in SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. Once docked, those four will begin their six-month mission on board while the four Crew-2 astronauts will head back to Earth—without a usable toilet.

“Our intent is to not use the system at all, right, for the return leg home,” said NASA commercial crew program manager Steve Stich. “Because of what we’ve seen with fluid … so we don’t intend to use that system at all. And we have other means to allow the crew to, um, perform the functions they need to.”