Elon Musk’s SpaceX astronauts to return to Earth in nappies due to toilet issues

Malfunctioning toilets have been a recurring problem for Space X’s Crew Dragon capsules and it means astronauts coming back to Earth will need to wear nappies.

Astronauts on Space X’s Crew Dragon Endeavour capsule will have to rely on nappies when departing the International Space Station in the coming days due to issues with the vehicle’s toilets.

It’s a recurring issue for Space X’s Crew Dragon capsules which are created by the US aerospace manufacturer owned and founded by billionaire Elon Musk.

Speaking from space, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur called it a “suboptimal” but “manageable” issue.

“Spaceflight is full of lots of little challenges,” she told reporters on Friday.

“This is just one more that we’ll encounter and take care of in our mission. So we’re not too worried about it.”

The Crew-2 mission now is targeting a return to Earth no earlier than Nov. 8, with a splashdown off the coast of Florida. Crew Dragon Endeavour is scheduled to undock from the @Space_Station on Nov. 7.#Crew3 is targeted to launch no earlier than Nov. 10: https://t.co/tgoGo2KR69pic.twitter.com/F25Dc2gLZd

— NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) November 6, 2021

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, Steve Stitch confirmed the news and said the astronauts will have to rely on “undergarments” on their return flight.

“Our intent is to not use the system at all for the return leg home because of what we’ve seen with the fluids we are talking about,” he said, according to Space.com.

“We have other means to allow the crew to perform the functions they need.”

Faulty toilets: a recurring problem

Malfunctioning toilets have been a recurring problem for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsules. During a four-person all-civilian space flight named Inspiration4 – the first of its kind to feature no professional astronaut – a tube which funnelled urine into a storage tank disconnected and leaked into the fan.

“There’s a storage tank where the urine goes to be stored (and) there’s a tube that came disconnected or came unglued,” said Bill Gerstenmaier, a SpaceX official who oversaw the flight.

“That allowed urine essentially to not go into the storage tank, but essentially go into the fan system.”

Although those aboard didn’t notice, officials found that urine had collected into an enclosed area beneath the capsule’s floor once it returned after a three-day orbit in September.

“When we got the vehicle back, we looked under the floor and saw the fact that there was contamination underneath the floor of Inspiration4,” added Mr Gerstenmaier.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour is set to splashdown on the coast of Florida once it returns to Earth. Picture: Bill Ingalls/NASA/AFP.

The leak was also detected in two additional Crew Dragon capsules, including the spacecraft set to return in the coming days. The other capsule called Crew Dragon Endurance was awaiting lift-off which meant engineers were able to resolve the problem prior to its launch.

While Space X has since designed a fix which means the urine tube cannot become “unglued,” the problem will still remain on the Crew Dragon Endeavour.

Despite this, on-ground tests ran by SpaceX have conducted tests which confirmed the urine has not compromised the spacecraft.

According to the New York Times, there were initial fears that given the space environment, the urine could have mixed with ozone to potentially corrode the ship’s crucial aluminium hardware.

“Luckily, or, on purpose, we chose an aluminium alloy that is very insensitive to corrosion,” confirmed Mr Gerstenmaier.

The #Crew2 astronauts are getting ready for a return to Earth no earlier than Nov. 8 with a splashdown off the coast of Florida as @NASA’s @SpaceX#Crew3 prepares for a launch to the @Space_Station no earlier than Nov. 10 pic.twitter.com/PZ5UCcSzeA

— SpaceX Crew-3 Mission (@Crew3Mission) November 6, 2021

Slated to return from space as early as Sunday, November 7, Ms McArthur is set to be joined by fellow SpaceX Crew-2 member, Shane Kimbrough and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Thomas Pesquet of ESA (European Space Agency).

Departing from the International Space Station, the Space X’s Crew Dragon capsule is expected to off the coast of Florida.

Although it’s unknown how long their voyage will take, previous returning SpaceX Crew Dragon trips took between six to 19 hours.