Getting familiar with … the toilet
NASA officials asked about Artemis II toilet troubles
At a NASA news conference on Saturday, Judd Frieling, Artemis II ascent flight director, and Debbie Korth, Orion deputy program manager, spoke on the status of the spacecraft’s toilet, which has repeatedly encountered issues since Wednesday’s liftoff.
Dr. Lori Glaze, associate administrator for NASA’s human spaceflight mission directorate, described the launch as “absolutely picture perfect.”
She congratulated first-time spaceflyers Kutryk, Delaney and Teteryatnikov, while noting that Watkins made history as the first NASA astronaut to fly on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft twice. She previously flew on Crew-4 in 2022.
Dana Weigel, manager of NASA’s Low Earth Orbit Program, said an anvil cloud over the launch pad cleared near the end of the countdown, just in time for launch.
“It was probably the best weather we could ask for in the middle of hurricane season in Florida,” Weigel said.
She said the countdown was “really, really clean,” and that there were no significant issues on either the rocket or spacecraft.
The Dragon spacecraft is now on its way to the International Space Station, with docking expected around 7 p.m. ET this evening.
Once Crew-13 reaches the station, Weigel said the crews would overlap for a few days to get familiar with “things like exercise equipment [and] the toilet.”
Astronauts, they’re just like us.
The members of Crew-12, who have been on the ISS since February, are expected to leave the station Monday.