Artemis II astronauts talk mission toilet troubles: “We made do”

The Artemis II crew addressed how they handled the toilet troubles aboard their historic mission around the moon while taking questions from children live on CBS Mornings. 

The plumbing issues became headline news in the first days of the Artemis mission. The crew had intermittent toilet trouble from the first day of the mission. When early issues with the system’s fan were resolved, the vent line that dumps waste into space froze, making it impossible for the tank to empty. NASA flight controllers re-oriented the Orion capsule to allow sunlight to warm the vent, reducing the clog.

During a town hall on Friday morning, 9-year-old Bridget asked the crew just how they handled the plumbing issues.

“What did you do when the toilet broke? Did you just let it fly around?” she asked, leading to laughs from the astronauts and audience.  

Mission specialist Christina Koch said that while the astronauts and NASA engineers worked to solve the problems, the crew aboard Orion used backup methods to keep everything hygienic. 

“Everything on the spaceship usually has a backup system, so luckily the engineers planned for that and we used our backup system,” Koch said. “We got through it. It wasn’t as easy as our fancy, good toilet, but we made do.” 

The backup method in this case were “contingency collapsible urinals,” or CCUs. The plastic containers allow for urine to be collected and vented into space later. Each crew member has two, CBS News previously reported. Veteran astronaut Don Pettit said on X that the CCUs replace about 25 pounds of diapers. 

Earlier in the town hall, pilot Victor Glover joked that with “the challenges we had, we were constantly thinking about the constellation Urion,” a joke referencing frozen urine droplets that remain in space after being vented. 

More questions about hygiene popped up throughout the town hall. CBS Mornings anchor Gayle King was curious how the astronauts washed up.

“How do you stay clean up there?” King asked. “Showers, birdbaths?” 

“I think showers in space are great,” Koch answered. “Floating, water.”