Orion astronauts tackle toilet malfunction during Moon flight

Aboard the Orion spacecraft en route to the Moon with three American and one Canadian astronaut, a malfunction has been reported in the ship’s toilet system.

A yellow warning indicator lit up on the toilet, Caliber.Az reports, citing Sky News.

Resolving the issue is expected to take longer than restoring the partially interrupted communication with the spacecraft, which was reestablished 51 minutes after launch.

The toilet aboard Orion is a new feature of NASA’s lunar program.

During the Apollo 11 mission, astronauts did not have onboard toilets and relied on specialised suits to manage waste.

The Space Launch System rocket carrying Orion lifted off on April 1 at 18:35 local time from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

The crew includes NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Cook, Victor Glover, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.

The astronauts will orbit the Moon without landing and then return to Earth.

The mission is expected to last 10 days. The last crewed lunar voyage took place in December 1972 aboard Apollo 17.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov