Category Archives: Spacex

EnduroSat andExolaunch have signed a launch agreements for sending two EnduroSat smallsats into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The 6U XL SharedSat smallsats, built by EnduroSat for customers, will be launched via Exolaunch in H1 2022 as part of SpaceXs SmallSat Rideshare Program.

The SharedSats are 6U XL smallsats with several multi-purpose payloads on a single bus. By simplifying access to space services through shared missions for a range of commercial, exploration and science customers, EnduroSat aims to significantly lower the entry barrier of operations in orbit.

The two SharedSats are part of the commercial EnduroSatsMissions. They foresee integration, validation, and testing, launch and operations of the satellite and hosted payloads. Direct access to the payload data will be made available in the cloud through EnduroSats Digital Mission Control. The software-centric smallsat architecture allows for multiple payloads to operate together reliably on a single platform with access to on-demand processing, power and pointing capability.

Exolaunch will ensure comprehensive rideshare mission management, satellite integration and deployment services for both EnduroSat missions. The launches are arranged by Exolaunch under its Multi-Launch Agreement with SpaceX. The new launch agreements mark the expansion of EnduroSats Shared Satellite Service and pave the way to the continued cooperation between the companies on future launches.

For both missions, Exolaunch will use their proprietary deployment technologies theEXOpod, a next-gen cubesat deployer with half a decade and 100+ of released satellites flight heritage, to deploy the EnduroSats satellites into their target SSO above 500 km, and the EXOport, a flexible, multi-satellite adapter designed to optimally accommodate several satellites on a single Falcon 9 port.

Were really pleased to have signed a launch agreement with Exolaunch, as it is another step in our mission to provide easy access to space. The Shared Satellite Service goal is to help drive innovation at the final frontier for visionary entrepreneurs, scientists, and technologists. At EnduroSat, we are eager to see the innovations that our customers willaccomplishin space and are happy to support them every step of the way, said EnduroSats Founder and CEO, Raycho Raychev.

Were proud to support EnduroSat with a variety of launch options and flexible mission management to address all their ongoing launch needs for the Shared Satellite Service program. Exolaunch has acquired outstanding flight heritage with Falcon 9 after signing a multi-launch agreement with SpaceX and is pleased to become a trusted launch partner for EnduroSat, said Jeanne Medvedeva, VP of Launch Services at Exolaunch. Its our common vision to make space accessible for everyone and we are honored to contribute to EnduroSats mission.

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Launch Agreement Signed By EnduroSat With Exolaunch For 2022 Mission Via SpaceX SatNews - SatNews Publishers

San Francisco, October 4

After spending three days in orbit, the world's first civilian mission of SpaceX's Inspiration4 returned to Earth safely last month and now mission commander Jared Isaacman has shared an incredible Earth image shot on iPhone.

"Amazing that an iPhone can take a shot like this. I really love the nosecone in the picture," Isaacman said in a tweet while sharing the photo.

Isaacman shared a clear video taken inside the cupola, which he said was shot on his iPhone during the flight. He added the crew were "so fortunate to have this perspective and we will do all we can to share the experience with the world".

It was the first civilian mission by SpaceX and the crew included Hayley Arceneaux, a physician assistant, Christopher Sembroski, an aerospace data engineer and Air Force veteran, and Dr Sian Proctor, a geoscientist.

Meanwhile, Arceneaux posted a 360-degree view of Earth from space and called the experience "absolutely life changing".

The fully automated Dragon capsule reached an unusually high altitude of 585 kilometres, surpassing the International Space Station by 160 kilometres. The Dragon's dome window, inspired by the Cupola on the ISSl provided the crew with incredible views of Earth.

"The Dragon performed a series of departure phasing burns to leave the circular orbit of 575 kilometres and then jettisoned its trunk ahead of de-orbit burns. After re-entering the Earth's atmosphere, the spacecraft deployed its two drogue and four main parachutes in preparation for the soft water landing," the company said on its website.

"We loved space but it's great to be home!" Isaacman wrote on Twitter.

"The absolute most incredible experience of my life. Can't wait to share more with you all! Red heart," added Arceneaux.

"What an amazing adventure! I'm so glad to be home on earth and to be back with my family. There is so much to share! What an amazing @inspiration4x team! Thanks @SpaceX!a Sembroski said.

"Inspiration4, which was aimed at inspiring humanity as well as to raise money for St. Jude, surpassed "the 200m goal", Isaacman shared in his tweet. IANS

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SpaceX crew shares Earth image shot on iPhone - The Tribune

The day is not far when India will see its own mega private aerospace company like Elon Musk-owns SpaceX or Jeff Bezos-run Blue Origin, taking travellers to the edge of space and beyond, Srinath Ravichandran, co-founder and CEO of rocket startup AgniKul Cosmos, has envisioned.

Ravichandran is ecstatic after Agnikul Cosmos was granted access to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) facilities and expertise for the development and testing of systems and subsystems of its rockets. He said that the pact with ISRO will allow them to ultilise its facilities to test out various sub-systems of their launch vehicle. "This will, in turn, help us with reduced capital expenditure and expedited testing," he said. "India can have its own SpaceX or Blue Origin kind of mega private space firm in the near future. There is so much support from the government and investors are open to invest too in the homegrown spacetech startups," Ravichandran added.

The next step, he added, will be to aim multiple launches per year and scale to the extent of having a launch once in two-three weeks. "Beyond that would be about making the vehicles more efficient, thereby providing even cheaper access to customers. We are doing this through a mix of innovations on various technologies in the vehicle," he informed.

Last month, Chennai-based Agnikul Cosmos received the nod by the Department of Space to carry out multiple tests and qualify its single piece 3D-printed semi-cryogenic engine and other systems of its rocket at various ISRO centres. This is the second pact that the Department of Space has signed with a rocket maker, after the first with Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace on September 11. According to Ravichandran, their rocket engines are 100 per cent 3D-printed, that too in a single shot. "This allows us to directly assemble what comes out of the 3D printer in our launch vehicle. The big advantage of this is the ability to provide and enable rapid launch access and, at the same time, make customisable launch vehicles," elaborated Ravichandran.

He formed the startup with Moin SPM within IIT-Madras with a seed funding of Rs 3 crore, with an aim to develop and launch its first rocket in 2021 and subsequently develop ability to provide launch service for satellites. The current investors in the spacetech startup are Mayfield India, PI Ventures, Speciale Invest, Beenext, Artha and others. In June, India decided to allow private companies to establish and operate rocket launch sites within and outside the country, subject to prior authorisation from the government.

Similarly, any rocket launch (orbital or sub-orbital) from Indian or overseas territory can be carried out only with authorisation from Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Center (IN-SPACe), an independent body constituted by the Government of India, under the Department of Space (DOS). The launch could be from own or leased launch site and also from mobile platforms (land, sea or air) as per the Draft National Space Transportation Policy-2020 brought out by the Department of Space.

"Now that we also have to plan the entire engine building facility in-house, we are confident that we can control engine making end-to-end in India, thereby not only enabling 'make in India' but also 'design in India'," Ravichandran added.

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India to have its SpaceX moment - The Hans India

SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft returned to Earth Thursday night (Sept. 30), packed full of science experiments after one month at the International Space Station.

The capsule, carrying 4,600 pounds (2,900 kilograms) of science experiments and other gear, undocked at 9:12 a.m. EDT (1312 GMT) on Thursday, while the station was traveling over the Pacific Ocean. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough monitored from inside the International Space Station's cupola as the capsule, commanded by ground controllers at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, detached from the station's Harmony module and fired its thrusters.

"I want to give a huge thank you to the SpaceX and the NASA teams for getting this vehicle up to us in great shape, with a lot of science and surprise for the ISS," Kimbrough said during a NASA livestream. "The activities associated with SpaceX 23 kept our crew busy over the past month. We look forward to hearing about the results of the payloads we interacted with. Have a safe journey back to Earth."

The capsule then moved to a safe distance from the station and performed a series of burns, which sent it toward Earth.Dragon ended up splashing down as planned off the coast of Florida, SpaceX confirmed via Twitter at 10:59 p.m. EDT Thursday (0229 GMT on Oct. 1).

Related: 3 astronauts move Soyuz to new space station dock ahead of film crew arrival

Dragon will be transported to NASA's Space Station Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center, which is located a short distance from the splashdown site.

This short distance is especially important for this shipment, since the capsule carries microgravity experiments that could be affected if exposed to the planet's gravity in an unprotected environment for a longer period of time, NASA officials wrote in a statement.

Many of the experiments are biomedical, including some focused on the evolution of degenerative diseases such as Azheimer's, Parkinson's and Type 2 diabetes, as well as others examining muscle atrophy and gene expression in space.

Investigators will make a first quick assessment of the biological samples upon arrival at the processing facility before exposure to gravity alters the results. Then, the researchers will perform more in-depth analyses at their home laboratories.

The departing Dragon spacecraft had been docked at the space station since Aug. 30. The capsule, launched on Aug. 29 from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, was SpaceX's 23rd Commercial Resupply Services mission for NASA.

The next cargo Dragon bound for the space station is currently targeting a launch in early December. The docking port on the Harmony module that the CRS-23 capsule occupied will next be visited by the upcoming Crew Dragon 3 mission this fall.

Editor's note: This story was updated at midnight EDT on Oct. 1 with news of Dragon's splashdown.

Follow Tereza Pultarova on Twitter @TerezaPultarova. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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SpaceX Dragon cargo ship returns to Earth with gravity-sensitive experiments - Space.com

SpaceX's Starlink satellites may be used for navigation and global positioning in addition to their core function of broadband Internet, a new research study suggests.

Engineering researchers external to SpaceX found a way to use the Starlink constellation signals for navigation similar to the capabilities provided by global positioning satellites (GPS), which are used in the United States and several other countries. The study represents the first time Starlink was used for navigation by researchers outside of SpaceX, the team members stated.

Researchers triangulated the signals from six Starlink satellites to fix upon a location on Earth with less than 27 feet (eight meters) of accuracy, the team reported in a statement. That's pretty comparable to the typical GPS capabilities of a smartphone, which typically pinpoints your spot on Earth to within 16 feet (4.9 m), depending on the conditions.

Related: Russian startup tests tech that filters SpaceX Starlink passes from astronomical observations

"We eavesdropped on the signal, and then we designed sophisticated algorithms to pinpoint our location, and we showed that it works with great accuracy," study author Zak Kassas, director of the Center for Automated Vehicles Research with Multimodal Assured Navigation (CARMEN) at Ohio State University, said in the statement.

"Even though Starlink wasn't designed for navigation purposes, we showed that it was possible to learn parts of the system well enough to use it for navigation," Kassas said.

The researchers developed their navigation system with no help from SpaceX, nor any access to data being shared over the broadband connection. Rather, they used the signals from several satellites and developed an algorithm to locate a position on Earth.

Next, they placed an antenna on the University of California, Irvine campus in an attempt to find its location using Starlink. Their experiment placed the estimated position of the antenna, using Starlink signals, within 25 feet (7.7 m) of its actual position.

The algorithm and Starlink working together are comparably accurate compared to past projects the team has worked on, Kassas said. Other low Earth orbit satellite constellations zeroed in on locations to within about 75 feet (23 meters). An unrelated project with the U.S. Air Force, to pinpoint locations of high-altitude aircraft, produced an accuracy of 16.5 feet (5 meters).

Kassas noted that Starlink's accuracy, using this methodology, will increase as more satellites in the fleet fly to orbit. SpaceX has about 1,700 working satellites today, the team stated, but the company hopes to launch more than 40,000 into orbit. (Recent launches have been delayed due to a liquid oxygen shortage induced by higher medical needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.)

The researchers suggested this method of using Starlink navigation could supplement traditional GPS navigation, the latter of which has vulnerabilities. Since GPS has been around for a generation (more than 30 years) and has a well-known signal, it is easy to use on smartphones or vehicles but also more "vulnerable to attacks", the team stated.

Starlink also has an advantage with its altitude, orbiting at roughly 750 miles (1,200 km), much closer to Earth than GPS in medium-Earth orbit. Starlink satellites are also launched more frequently once every few weeks, typically than GPS (once every few months or years), allowing Starlink to have more frequent hardware upgrades.

Coincidentally, in recent years SpaceX has launched several GPS satellites for the U.S. Space Force. Founder Elon Musk has so far offered no comment about the new study on Twitter in recent days.

Editor's note: This article has been updated to fix an error in GPS satellite orbit altitudes.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites could be used for GPS navigation - Space.com

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket just got another passenger.

The powerful Falcon Heavy is now scheduled to loft Astranis' first commercial communications satellite to orbit next spring, Astranis representatives announced Thursday (Sept. 23).

The satellite which will beam internet service down to Alaskans from geostationary orbit, about 22,200 miles (35,730 kilometers) up had previously been slated to ride atop a SpaceX Falcon 9.

Related: The evolution of SpaceX's rockets in pictures

"Launching on Falcon Heavy will get us on orbit months faster, allowing us to serve customers in Alaska that much sooner," Astranis CEO John Gedmark said in a statement. "This is a huge win for our customers in Alaska."

The Alaska-serving satellite will be just the beginning for Astranis, if all goes according to plan.

"By owning and operating its satellites and offering them to customers as a turnkey solution, Astranis is able to provide bandwidth-as-a-service and unlock previously unreachable markets," representatives of the San Francisco-based company wrote in the same statement. "This allows Astranis to launch small, dedicated satellites for small and medium-sized countries, Fortune 500 companies, existing satellite operators and other customers."

The 880-pound (400 kilograms) Astranis satellite will share space on the Falcon Heavy with another communications craft Viasat-3, which will be operated by fellow California company Viasat.

Falcon Heavy has just three launches under its belt to date, but it's poised to get quite a workout over the coming months. The rocket is scheduled to launch two classified missions for the U.S. Space Force by early 2022, the first of which will lift off next month. The Viasat-3/Astranis flight will follow shortly thereafter. And Falcon Heavy's manifest also includes NASA's Psyche asteroid mission, which is slated to launch next August.

The rocket will also fly some other high-profile missions in the near future, including NASA's ice-hunting VIPER moon rover in 2023 and Europa Clipper probe in 2024.

The Falcon Heavy consists of three modified, strapped-together Falcon 9 first stages. The central core is topped by a second stage, which carries the payload. Like the workhorse Falcon 9, the Falcon Heavy is partially reusable; all three first stages are designed to return to Earth, make vertical, powered landings, and fly again.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch internet satellite to serve Alaska in 2022 - Space.com

Whats holding up US plans to go back to the moon? An argument over pre-flight meetings.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson says he cant firm up plans to return Americans to the moon by 2024 until a lawsuit against the space agency, brought by Jeff Bezos space company Blue Origin, is resolved. The suit contends that NASA should not have chosen Elon Musks SpaceX to build a lander that will carry astronauts to the lunar surface.

Specifically, the suit hinges on flight readiness reviews, or FRRs, which are comprehensive briefings about every aspect of a space mission. They take place soon before a launch and represent the final approval to go ahead with a mission.

These meetings are important because of the relationship between NASA and its contractors. The agency is using the public-private partnership model that entails giving contractors limited guidance and paying them a fixed price. Since the agency is not doing as much of the nitty-gritty design work, FRRs offer a key opportunity for oversight.

Bezos and company say that SpaceX is risking the safety of astronauts because it will not do enough of these reviews. Musk says that we always do flight readiness reviews.

Whos correct?

NASAs plan to get to the moon involves launching astronauts in a spacecraft called Orion. Unlike the Apollo missions, when the astronauts brought a lander along with them, the next generation of moon explorers will meet a separate lander vehicle orbit above the moon, which will shuttle them back and forth to the surface below. NASA asked private companies to build it.

SpaceX proposed its newest vehicle, a large spacecraft called Starship. To do so, SpaceX will need to refuel the Starship in orbit before it goes to the moon and back; that will require the launch of fourteen tanker Starships, and another spacecraft whose description is redacted in public documents, but is widely believed to be some kind of propellant depot. (All those launches are required because of how much propellant large spacecraft require to break free of Earths gravity.)

The plan is to have Starship fly to orbit, fuel up, and then meet the astronauts in lunar orbit. And, according to the Government Accountability Organization, SpaceX proposed to NASA that there would be one flight readiness review before the launch of the Starship being used to transport astronauts; the rest of the fueling infrastructure would already be on orbit, and no astronauts would be onboard Starship until it actually met them in deep space.

Two competing bids, one from a consortium led by Blue Origin and another from an Alabama company called Dynetics, proposed smaller, more traditional lunar landers. Blue Origin has not settled if its lander will launch on one huge rocket or on three medium-sized vehicles. Dynetics lander will get to the moon with one launch but needs to be refueled in orbit by four tanker spacecraft.

NASA hoped to choose two contractors to build moon landers, but had only received funding from Congress to pick one. The space agency ultimately selected SpaceXs proposal, saying it was the cheapest and the most technically sound. But, again according to the GAO, NASA officials asked SpaceX to add two more FRRs to its plan, so that each vehicle type would be scrutinized before it launchedone review for the tankers, one for the potential depot, and one for the Starship that will carry the astronauts.

The other two contractors challenged the decision before the GAO. The protestors argued that because NASA did not require an FRR before every SpaceX launch, the company received an unfair advantage. The GAO agreed that NASA didnt stick to the original wording of its proposal when it allowed SpaceX to have three reviews, but said that didnt change the course of the contract and rejected the challenge. Blue Origin has now escalated the dispute to federal court.

Heres where the mystery comes in: SpaceX distributed a briefing document to lawmakers, whose decisions about NASA funding will influence the agencys choices, stating that SpaceX willand has always been planning toconduct an FRR with full NASA insight and participation prior to every Starship HLS launch. Elon Musk also tweeted that we always do flight readiness reviews! This argument makes no sense.

If thats the case, perhaps the lawyers SpaceX hired to make its case to the GAO should be concerned that they were unable to convey this. SpaceX did not answer questions attempting to tease out the distinction between Musks argument and the GAOs assessment of the contract.

To interpret the difference between GAOs three FRRs and SpaceXs claim that the company always does flight readiness reviews, you have to parse the semantics: When the briefing document says Starship HLS launch, it appears to refer to the human lander spacecraft, and not the other launches. SpaceX has always intended to have an FRR for that specific vehicle.

SpaceX seems to be arguing that the tanker spacecraft and potential fuel depot are infrastructure that NASA doesnt need to worry as much about, while the vehicle that will actually carry astronauts deserves fuller scrutiny. In a court filing unsealed today, the companys attorneys made the case that supporting spacecraft did not fall under the FRR requirements outlined in NASAs request for bids.

The argument over the FRRs mostly reflects the ambition of SpaceXs plans compared to its rivals. Blue Origin and Dynetics proposed fewer launches to get their smaller lander vehicles to the moon.

That is, in part, why the GAO rejected their challenge: It wasnt clear why SpaceX received an advantage when NASA allowed it to have three FRRs. Blue Origin would only be launching its lander vehicle, in either one or three pieces, and no fueling infrastructure. Dynetics proposal, meanwhile, had other weaknesses that outweighed its concerns about FRRs.

SpaceXs latest filing says that NASA expressly gave bidders the liberty to propose a different architecture, and the company did so. All the meeting madness holding up NASAs plans doesnt seem to rise to the level of disregard for safety, as Blue Origin alleges, but we wont know for sure until the lawsuit is over and all the facts come out.

While much of the court docket is sealed, the parties are currently debating what kind of records the judge will review, with Blue Origin seeking to obtain NASA emails, and other documents and SpaceX saying those additional records are unnecessary. One the administrative record is settled, a judge will determine if Blues challenge has merit.

This story has been corrected to clarify the moon landing plans developed by Blue Origin and Dynetics.

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NASA, Blue Origin and SpaceX can't agree on lunar flight reviews - Quartz

SpaceXs Starlink satellites may be used for navigation and GPS in the future, a new study suggests.

Engineers from Ohio State University have developed a means to use signals broadcast by Starlink to locate a position on Earth.

It is the first time the system has been used by scientists outside of SpaceX, and the researchers say they only used data related to the satellites movement and location not the actual data being sent through the satellites.

We eavesdropped on the signal, and then we designed sophisticated algorithms to pinpoint our location, and we showed that it works with great accuracy, said Zak Kassas, director of the Center for Automated Vehicles Research with Multimodal Assured Navigation (CARMEN) at Ohio State.

Even though Starlink wasnt designed for navigation purposes, we showed that it was possible to learn parts of the system well enough to use it for navigation.

The important catch here is that we are not listening in on what is being sent over these satellites. We learned the signals just well enough to harness them for navigation purposes.

Using their algorithm, they were able to identify an antenna at the campus of University of California, Irvine, within approximately 7.7 metres although this is still significantly less accurate than GPS, which identifies areas with an accuracy of between 0.3 and five metres. Using other low Earth orbit (LEO) systems, the researchers could pinpoint an area with an accuracy of 23 metres.

SpaceX currently has under 2,000 satellites in orbit but intends to launch over 40,000 more. The researchers say that as the constellation grows the accuracy of the system will increase.

Eventually, it is believed this research could be used as an alternative and more secure version of GPS, since global positioning systems are weaker than the signals given off by LEO constellations, due to their distance.

In addition, GPS uses well-known signals, and while this is a benefit to companies making equipment that use those signals, it makes it vulnerable to spoofing or jamming attacks which, in some situations, can even put malicious individuals in control of military drones or maritime vessels.

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SpaceXs Starlink satellites could be a stronger, more secure alternative to GPS, new research suggests - The Independent

PHOENIX A capsule parachuting into the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast on Sept. 18 after a trip to space concluded what was a dream come true for a Valley college professor.

Sian Proctor, a professor at South Mountain Community College, was among the four-person crew of the SpaceX Dragon capsule.

It was an amazing experience, Proctor told KTAR News 92.3 FMs Arizonas Morning News on Thursday. It was out of this world.

Im kind of still in shock that weve gone up and come back down.

The capsule launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sept. 15, with Proctor piloting the fully automated capsule.

Everything went so smoothly from liftoff to being on orbit to de-orbiting, Proctor said, adding de-orbiting is a time where things could potentially go wrong.

Proctor, a one-time NASA astronaut finalist, along with trip sponsor Jared Isaacman and two others spent three days in space, being presented with views of a lifetime.

She didnt realize that because of their altitude and the design of the cupola a bubble-shaped window at the top of the capsule that they would be able to see the entire sphere of the Earth.

When you get up there and see that, you are just in awe and amazed, Proctor said, adding going into it as a poet and an artist added another layer to the experience.

Just absolutely stunningly beautiful.

The crew wasnt just up there to sight-see as Proctor said there were many tasks to complete during the three-day trip.

Went by way too fast and we had too much to do, Proctor said, adding there was no sense of boredom.

We had all these medical research experiments we were doing, I wanted to paint so I did one drawing and one full painting.

Proctor isnt sure what she will do next for the Maricopa County Community College District, serving as the districts astronaut resident, but is excited to bring the experience to the classroom.

Geology tends to attract a lot of non-science majors, and Im always excited to take those students and get them really fired up about science and our planet and the possibilities, Proctor said.

Now being able to add this orbital perspective to our planet really adds something.

After winning her ticket by beating a field of 200 applicants, Proctor said she would be open to going on another trip to space with the company.

Flying with SpaceX was a fantastic experience, they are the most amazing company, Proctor said.

Im not going to turn them down if they come knocking.

The capsule reached a high altitude of 363 miles, surpassing the International Space Station by 100 miles.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Have a story idea or tip? Pass it along to the KTAR News team here.

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Valley college professor calls trip to space on SpaceX capsule out of this world - KTAR.com

As Jared Isaacman and his three fellow crewmates were free-flying through Earth's orbit, shielded from the unforgiving vacuum of space by nothing but a 13-foot-wide carbon-fiber capsule, an alarm started blaring.The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft's systems were warning the crew of a "significant" issue, Isaacman said. They'd spent months poring over SpaceX manuals and training to respond to in-space emergencies, so they leaped into action, working with SpaceX ground controllers to pinpoint the cause of the error.As it turned out, the Crew Dragon wasn't in jeopardy. But the on-board toilet was.Nothing in space is easy, including going to the bathroom. In a healthy human on Earth, making sure everything ends up in the toilet is usually a matter of simple aim. But in space, there is no feeling of gravity. There's no guarantee that what comes out will go where it's supposed to. Waste can and does go in every possible direction.To solve that problem, space toilets have fans inside them, which are used to create suction. Essentially they pull waste out of the human body and keep it stored away.And the Crew Dragon's "waste management system" fans were experiencing mechanical problems. That is what tripped the alarm the crew heard.Scott "Kidd" Poteet, an Inspiration4 mission director who helped oversee the mission from the ground, tipped reporters off about the issue in an interview with CBS. Poteet and SpaceX's director of crew mission management later confirmed there were "issues" with the waste management system at a press conference but didn't go into detail, setting off an immediate wave of speculation that the error could've created a disastrous mess.When asked directly about that on Thursday, however, Isaacman said "I want to be 100% clear: There were no issues in the cabin at all as it relates to that."But Isaacman and his fellow travelers on the Inspiration4 mission did have to work with SpaceX to respond to the problem during their three-day stay in orbit, during which they experienced numerous communications blackouts, highlighting the importance of the crew's thorough training regimen."I would say probably somewhere around 10% of our time on orbit we had no , and we were a very calm, cool crew during that," he said, adding that "mental toughness and a good frame of mind and a good attitude" were crucial to the mission."The psychological aspect is one area where you can't compromise because...there were obviously circumstances that happened up there where if you had somebody that didn't have that mental toughness and started to react poorly, that really could've brought down the whole mission," Isaacman said.SpaceX did not respond to CNN's requests for comment.The toilet anecdote also highlights a fundamental truth about humanity and its extraterrestrial ambitions no matter how polished and glitzy we may imagine our space-faring future, biological realities remain.Excreta in space, a historyIsaacman was as numerous astronauts before him bashful when it came to discussing the "toilet situation.""Nobody really wants to get into the gory details," Isaacman said. But when the Inspiration4 crew talked to some NASA astronauts, they said "using the bathroom in space is hard, and you've got to be very what was the word? very kind to one another."He added that, despite the on-board toilet issues, nobody suffered any accidents or indignities."I don't know who was training them, but we were able to work through it and get going even with what was initially challenging circumstances, so there was nothing ever like, you know, in the cabin or anything like that," he said.Figuring out how to safely relieve oneself in space was, however, was a fundamental question posed at the dawn of human spaceflight half a century ago, and the path to answers was not error-free.During the 1969 Apollo 10 mission the one that saw Thomas Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan circumnavigate the moon Stafford reported back to mission control on Day Six of the mission that a piece of waste was floating through the cabin, according to once-confidential government documents."Give me a napkin, quick," Stafford is recorded as saying a few minutes before Cernan spots another one: "Here's another goddamn turd."The feces collection process at the time, a NASA report later revealed, was an "extremely basic" plastic bag that was "taped to the buttocks.""The fecal bag system was marginally functional and was described as very 'distasteful' by the crew," an official NASA report from 2007 later revealed. "The bags provided no odor control in the small capsule and the odor was prominent."In-space toilets have evolved since then, thanks to strenuous efforts from NASA scientists, as journalist Mary Roach, author of "Packing for Mars," told NPR in 2010."The problem here is you've got this very elaborate space toilet, and you need to test it. Well, you've got to, you know, haul it over to Ellington Field, board it onto a zero-gravity simulator a plane that does these elaborate up-and-down arcs and then you've got to find some poor volunteer from the Waste System Management Office to test it. And I don't know about you, but, I mean, to do it on demand in 20 seconds, now that is asking a lot of your colon. So it's very elaborate and tricky."And, Roach writes in "Packing for Mars," astronaut potty training is no laughing matter."The simple act of urination can, without gravity, become a medical emergency requiring catheterization and embarrassing radio consults with flight surgeons," she wrote. And because urine behaves differently inside the bladder in space, it can be very difficult to tell when one needs to go.

As Jared Isaacman and his three fellow crewmates were free-flying through Earth's orbit, shielded from the unforgiving vacuum of space by nothing but a 13-foot-wide carbon-fiber capsule, an alarm started blaring.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft's systems were warning the crew of a "significant" issue, Isaacman said. They'd spent months poring over SpaceX manuals and training to respond to in-space emergencies, so they leaped into action, working with SpaceX ground controllers to pinpoint the cause of the error.

As it turned out, the Crew Dragon wasn't in jeopardy. But the on-board toilet was.

Nothing in space is easy, including going to the bathroom. In a healthy human on Earth, making sure everything ends up in the toilet is usually a matter of simple aim. But in space, there is no feeling of gravity. There's no guarantee that what comes out will go where it's supposed to. Waste can and does go in every possible direction.

To solve that problem, space toilets have fans inside them, which are used to create suction. Essentially they pull waste out of the human body and keep it stored away.

And the Crew Dragon's "waste management system" fans were experiencing mechanical problems. That is what tripped the alarm the crew heard.

Scott "Kidd" Poteet, an Inspiration4 mission director who helped oversee the mission from the ground, tipped reporters off about the issue in an interview with CBS. Poteet and SpaceX's director of crew mission management later confirmed there were "issues" with the waste management system at a press conference but didn't go into detail, setting off an immediate wave of speculation that the error could've created a disastrous mess.

When asked directly about that on Thursday, however, Isaacman said "I want to be 100% clear: There were no issues in the cabin at all as it relates to that."

But Isaacman and his fellow travelers on the Inspiration4 mission did have to work with SpaceX to respond to the problem during their three-day stay in orbit, during which they experienced numerous communications blackouts, highlighting the importance of the crew's thorough training regimen.

"I would say probably somewhere around 10% of our time on orbit we had no [communication with the ground], and we were a very calm, cool crew during that," he said, adding that "mental toughness and a good frame of mind and a good attitude" were crucial to the mission.

"The psychological aspect is one area where you can't compromise because...there were obviously circumstances that happened up there where if you had somebody that didn't have that mental toughness and started to react poorly, that really could've brought down the whole mission," Isaacman said.

SpaceX did not respond to CNN's requests for comment.

The toilet anecdote also highlights a fundamental truth about humanity and its extraterrestrial ambitions no matter how polished and glitzy we may imagine our space-faring future, biological realities remain.

Isaacman was as numerous astronauts before him bashful when it came to discussing the "toilet situation."

"Nobody really wants to get into the gory details," Isaacman said. But when the Inspiration4 crew talked to some NASA astronauts, they said "using the bathroom in space is hard, and you've got to be very what was the word? very kind to one another."

He added that, despite the on-board toilet issues, nobody suffered any accidents or indignities.

"I don't know who was training them, but we were able to work through it and get [the toilet] going even with what was initially challenging circumstances, so there was nothing ever like, you know, in the cabin or anything like that," he said.

Figuring out how to safely relieve oneself in space was, however, was a fundamental question posed at the dawn of human spaceflight half a century ago, and the path to answers was not error-free.

During the 1969 Apollo 10 mission the one that saw Thomas Stafford, John Young and Eugene Cernan circumnavigate the moon Stafford reported back to mission control on Day Six of the mission that a piece of waste was floating through the cabin, according to once-confidential government documents.

"Give me a napkin, quick," Stafford is recorded as saying a few minutes before Cernan spots another one: "Here's another goddamn turd."

The feces collection process at the time, a NASA report later revealed, was an "extremely basic" plastic bag that was "taped to the buttocks."

"The fecal bag system was marginally functional and was described as very 'distasteful' by the crew," an official NASA report from 2007 later revealed. "The bags provided no odor control in the small capsule and the odor was prominent."

In-space toilets have evolved since then, thanks to strenuous efforts from NASA scientists, as journalist Mary Roach, author of "Packing for Mars," told NPR in 2010.

"The problem here is you've got this very elaborate space toilet, and you need to test it. Well, you've got to, you know, haul it over to Ellington Field, board it onto a zero-gravity simulator a plane that does these elaborate up-and-down arcs and then you've got to find some poor volunteer from the Waste System Management Office to test it. And I don't know about you, but, I mean, to do it on demand in 20 seconds, now that is asking a lot of your colon. So it's very elaborate and tricky."

And, Roach writes in "Packing for Mars," astronaut potty training is no laughing matter.

"The simple act of urination can, without gravity, become a medical emergency requiring catheterization and embarrassing radio consults with flight surgeons," she wrote. And because urine behaves differently inside the bladder in space, it can be very difficult to tell when one needs to go.

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An alarm went off during SpaceX's all-tourist space flight. The problem was the toilet - WCVB Boston