Artemis II astronauts on path to the moon after toilet and email issues
“There were no problems with the vehicle itself,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Wednesday during a post-launch press briefing. “Communications with the crew have been restored. We are actively working on this issue.”
Crew members also reported a flashing trouble light while testing their onboard toilets on Wednesday.
Called the Universal Waste Management System, the Orion capsule’s toilet is designed to flush urine overboard and store feces until the crew returns. It is separated by a door on the floor of the capsule to allow some privacy. Similar toilets have been tested on the International Space Station.
Mission leaders worked with astronauts to assess the problem overnight, and NASA confirmed Thursday morning that the crew was able to return the space toilet to normal operation.
If the problem hadn’t been repaired, the backup plan was for the crew to use what NASA calls “collapsible emergency urinals” to collect urine in bags. Toilets would have always been used for collecting fecal matter.
A third problem that emerged is perhaps most relevant to many people on Earth: As the astronauts were setting up their computers, they requested technical assistance from Mission Control. The culprit? Microsoft Outlook.
“I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither of them works,” Wiseman, the mission commander, said over the radio.
Mission controllers were finally able to remotely access computers and bring Outlook back online for the astronauts.
With the initial problems ironed out, the Artemis II astronauts reached a major milestone Thursday evening: a key engine ignited that put them on a trajectory to fly around the Moon.
The maneuver, known as a translunar injection burn, lasted just under six minutes. Orion’s main engine fired, increasing the capsule’s speed enough to send it out of Earth’s orbit.
The crew is “now on course to fly around the Moon for the first time in 50 years,” Mission Control said after the burn ended.
This was the last burn of an engine of this magnitude during the Artemis II mission, because the spacecraft’s trajectory depends heavily on the gravitational pull of the Earth and Moon. Now that the translunar injection is complete, the astronauts begin an irreversible journey around the Moon.
The burn occurred after the astronauts got some sleep on Thursday, waking up at 2:35 p.m. ET. They woke up to John Legend’s song “Green Light” and messages from NASA employees and members of the teams who helped them get to space. Glover thanked them for their kind words.
About a few hours later, mission leaders in Houston met to decide whether or not to proceed with the translunar injection burn.
The team said “go ahead”.
