NASA: SpaceX Toilet Still Broken, Astronauts Will Have to Pee Themselves – Futurism

Astronauts will have to rely on their "undergarments."Diapers Deployed

Despite their best efforts, engineers at SpaceX wont be able to fix the leaky toilet on board the companys Crew Dragon spacecraft in time for the NASA astronauts set to launch on it imminently.

Their solution for this weeks Crew-3 launch headed to the International Space Station: astronauts will have to resort to peeing their spacesuits, which essentially amount to diapers.

NASAs Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich told reporters on Friday that astronauts will have to rely on their undergarments, CNN reports a throwback to how astronauts used to have to do their business in the Apollo days, and still do during prolonged space walks.

The admission serves as yet another reminder that even after decades of spaceflight, space toilets remain an extraordinary engineering challenge.

While inspecting a different Crew Dragon spacecraft ironically dubbed Resilience last month, SpaceX engineers made a horrifying discovery. The toilet had sprayed human urine into a compartment underneath the capsules floor while four unsuspecting space tourists made their joyride around the Earth over three days.

The Inspiration4 crew also had their own issues with the lavatory during the jorney, struggling with a misfunctioning vent fan.

The same issue showed up in the other Crew Dragon capsule, dubbed Endurance, which was meant to carry a crew of four to the ISS on Sunday. The launch had to be delayed yesterday for the second time due to a seemingly unrelated minor medical issue. Its now scheduled to launch no earlier than this coming Saturday night.

Fortunately, the urine didnt cause any permanent damage to either of the two spacecraft but that wont provide much relief for astronauts stuck inside the capsule for as long as 24 hours while traveling to the orbital outpost or even longer, in the case of Inspiration4.

Last week, SpaceX officials announced they had found a solution to the spraying space toilet. But given Stichs comments on Friday, it sounds as though the fix has yet to be implemented.

Lets hope this weeks crew will have the Endurance it takes to travel all the way to the ISS with diapers. Space travel just isnt always as glamorous as one might hope.

READ MORE: Leaky SpaceX toilet problem will force astronauts to use backup undergarments [CNN]

More on the infamous toilet: Space Toilet No Longer Oozes Human Pee, SpaceX Proclaims

Care about supporting clean energy adoption? Find out how much money (and planet!) you could save by switching to solar power at UnderstandSolar.com. By signing up through this link, Futurism.com may receive a small commission.

See the rest here:
NASA: SpaceX Toilet Still Broken, Astronauts Will Have to Pee Themselves - Futurism