Four astronauts Thursday embarked on NASA’s historic Artemis II mission that will take them to the moon and back in 10 days.  The mission was launched from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, US, a little before 4 AM India time.

The astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch of the United States, and Jeremy Hansen of Canada, will travel to the moon, loop around it once, and are expected to return to earth in about ten days.

It is known that this mission is taking the team farther from Earth than any human has travelled since the Apollo programme more than five decades ago.

But, there’s one more unique thing about this mission: It is also the first time a real toilet has been installed on spacecraft travelling deep into the space. And while moving on Earth’s orbit, the Artemis II crew reported a problem with this toilet and dialled the team on the ground, reported The New York Times.

The Apollo missions that took astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and ’70s did not any designated bathroom area on board. The crew members onboard used waste collection bags on their way to the moon and discarded them on the lunar surface on their way back to earth, in order to reduce mass and contamination risks.

The Artemis II setup was planned to be more dignified. The Orion capsule has a specialised toilet, named the Universal Waste Management System.

It has a door is on the floor, next to the hatch used as an entry way into the spacecraft.

In microgravity, not much can hold one’s poop down. The capsule has handrails and foot tethers to keep the crew secure while on a bathroom run.

The toilet also has a funnel fixed with a hose for urine and a seat for solid waste.

Automatic air flow helps in pulling the waste from the body into separate storage containers and also reduces odour.

The astronauts need to be very careful while using it and ensure that they get a good configuration, said Branelle Rodriguez, Orion’s vehicle manager in a NASA podcast

One more interesting fact is that it’s very loud inside the toilet, and one needs to wear a hearing protection when inside it.

In case of longer missions, like those aboard the International Space Station, astronauts recycle liquid waste into drinkable water.

But since the duration of Artemis II is only 10 days, the crew will vent urine out of the spacecraft regularly.

Solid waste will however be stored in a container fitted with filters to control the smell and buildup of gas. This will be disposed on return to Earth.

While moving on Earth’s orbit, the Artemis II crew faced a problem with this toilet and dialled the team on the ground, reported The New York Times. They had reported noticing a blinking fault light. At a news conference, NASA’s associate administrator Amit Kshatriya described it a “controller issue” — one that would take some hours to troubleshoot. This appeared to have been partly achieved by midnight.

If the Artemis toilet can’t be fixed for some reason, the crew will collect their urine in bags. They can still use the toilet for releasing their solid waste. But the air flow may not be working.

— with inputs from New York Times