Accordingly, the group of astronauts about to return to Earth aboard the SpaceX Endeavor must find “other means” to solve the problem of personal hygiene. Previously, during the first commercial flight for amateur astronauts in September, the Dragon spacecraft leaked urine due to a faulty pipe. RT news agency quoted an announcement on October 29 by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stitch, saying that astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Meghan McArthur of NASA along with Akihiko Hoshide of JAXA (Japan) and Thomas Thomas ESA’s Pesquet (Europe) was asked to “limit the use of the system during the return voyage of the Crew – 2…”.
“We have other facilities that allow the crew to take care of their needs… Anytime the crew sees fit, they can wear underwear over that suit,” Mr. Stitch explained.
The space toilet incident happened during the Inspiration4 mission, when US billionaire Jared Isaacman and three others were in orbit for 3 days in the Resilience spacecraft. Upon their return, the technician discovered that a glued joint in the waste container had somehow come loose during the flight, causing urine to leak into the fan system.
“We fixed this problem by making it a sealed structure with no joints left to come off,” said SpaceX Vice President William Gerstenmaier. This is the only functional failure in flight, so it shouldn’t cause much trouble.
Crew – 2 is scheduled to return to Earth in early November.
