first moon-bound crew<\/a> in more than 53 years, picking up where NASA\u2019s Apollo program left off.<\/p>\n\u201cThe Earth is quite small, and the moon is definitely getting bigger,\u201d reported pilot Victor Glover, a Pomona native. <\/p>\n
Until the Orion capsule\u2019s bathroom is fixed, Mission Control has instructed the astronauts to break out more of the backup urine collection bags. The so-called lunar loo malfunctioned following Wednesday\u2019s liftoff and has been hit-and-miss ever since. A version of the Artemis II toilet was tested on the International Space Station several years ago.<\/p>\n
Engineers suspect ice may be blocking the line that is preventing urine from completely flushing overboard. The toilet is still open for No. 2 business. <\/p>\n
Debbie Korth, NASA\u2019s Orion program deputy manager, said the astronauts have also reported a smell coming from the bathroom, which is buried in the floor of the capsule with a door and curtain for privacy. <\/p>\n
\u201cSpace toilets and bathrooms are something everybody can really understand. … It\u2019s always a challenge,\u201d she said, noting that the space shuttle toilet was often on the fritz.<\/p>\n
John Honeycutt, chair of the mission management team, said it is human nature to be interested in the space commode, and even though it is \u201cin a good state right now,\u201d he\u2019d like it to be working at 100%. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re OK,\u201d he said of the astronauts. \u201cThey trained to manage through the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Artemis II is poised to set a distance record for human spaceflight, traveling more than 252,000 miles from Earth before hanging a U-turn behind the moon and heading home without stopping or entering lunar orbit. The distance record is currently held by Apollo 13. <\/p>\n
The Canadian Space Agency celebrated the country\u2019s role in the mission, speaking from Quebec with astronaut Jeremy Hansen as he headed toward his lunar rendezvous. Hansen is the first non-U.S. citizen to fly to the moon.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday he is making history for Canada,\u201d Canadian Space Agency President Lisa Campbell said. \u201cAs we watch him taking this bold step into the unknown, let his journey remind us that Canada\u2019s future is written by those who dare to reach for more.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the live televised linkup, Hansen said he has already witnessed \u201cextraordinary\u201d views from NASA\u2019s Orion capsule, nicknamed Integrity. <\/p>\n
Hansen, Glover, Reid Wiseman and Christina Koch are the world\u2019s first lunar astronauts since Apollo 17\u2019s crew of three in 1972. Koch and Glover are the first female and first Black astronauts to the moon, respectively.<\/p>\n
Their nearly 10-day mission \u2014 ending with a Pacific splashdown scheduled Friday \u2014 is the first step in NASA\u2019s bold plans for a sustainable moon base. The space agency is aiming for a landing by two astronauts near the lunar south pole in 2028.<\/p>\n
Dunn writes for the Associated Press. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Now more than halfway to the moon, the Artemis II astronauts prepared for their historic lunar fly-around to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[180273,180272,8398,80666,245,29794,180276,180275,172578,172581,85,46,180274,8245,3442,179481,141,145,73351],"class_list":{"0":"post-375724","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-apollo-astronaut","9":"tag-artemis-ii-speed","10":"tag-astronaut","11":"tag-bathroom","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-christina-koch","14":"tag-distance-record","15":"tag-first-lunar-astronaut","16":"tag-glover","17":"tag-hansen","18":"tag-il","19":"tag-israel","20":"tag-mission-control","21":"tag-moon","22":"tag-nasa","23":"tag-orion-capsule","24":"tag-science","25":"tag-space","26":"tag-toilet"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}