NASA's Orion Capsule Faces Space Plumbing Crisis

0:00It's April 5th, you're listening to Global News today, AI-powered coverage from around the world. I'm Corey with The Story. NASA's Artemis 2, mission just made history by sending four astronauts deeper into space than humans have gone since 1972, looping, around the moon in the Orion capsule. But even on this 10-day test flight that's now in day 5, they've hit a snag with the onboard toilet. The trouble started right after launch on Wednesday, with intermittent clouds in the waste vent line, possibly from ice buildup. Crew switched to backup plastic bags for urine collection, and on Saturday, they couldn't dump waste overboard like planned. Astronauts kept it light, with mission specialist Koch dubbing herself the space plumber and calling the toilet the most crucial gear aboard. NASA folks get why everyone's talking about it, saying it's just basic human nature amplified in zero gravity. Teams on the ground had the crew tweak Orion's angle to aim the vent at the sun for thawing, fired up heaters to melt any ice, and freed some tank.

1:01Space. The toilet's working now, but backup stay ready overnight just in case. This fly by a set of future moon landings by testing Orion's steering and manual controls, proving we can handle the long hauls back to the lunar. Neighborhood.