A broken toilet on SpaceX capsule means astronauts will return to Earth in diapers November 7, 20217:34 PM ET
KAT LONSDORF
The Crew Dragon space capsule astronauts, from front left, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.
John Raoux/AP
The journey back to Earth from space is never easy, but the astronauts aboard the SpaceX capsule coming home Monday will have an extra challenge to deal with: no working toilet. The four members on SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavor will be wearing diapers as they splash down, in order to prevent anything else from splashing too.
The crew for this mission, known as Crew-2, has been at the International Space Station since April, and have spent nearly 200 days in space. "It's been a very, very intense mission, a lot of things have happened," said expedition commander and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet in a press conference over the weekend. Over the mission, they conducted a series of spacewalks installing solar panels to upgrade the station's powergrid, grew the first green chile peppers in space (and made tacos!) and even hosted a private Russian film crew.
The SpaceX capsule is currently scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on Monday afternoon and return Monday night, although all of that is dependent on the weather. All in all, the four crew members could spend up to 20 hours in the capsule, from the time the hatches are closed until they open again on Earth.
In this weekend's press conference, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur confirmed that the toilets on board Dragon Endeavor are broken. "Of course that's sub-optimal, but we're prepared to manage," she said with a smile. "Space flight is full of lots of little challenges, this is just one more that we'll encounter and take care of in our mission."
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Poster Comment:
One time when driving the big truck, I pulled into a rest area and popped the parking brake in front of the building with the rest rooms. I ran inside and just made it. Then a security guard stuck his head in the door and hollered, "Driver! You can't park out here!" I hollered back, "It was an emergency!" When I came out he was still bitching.