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Agence France-Presse

They are sipping smoothies, snapping phone pics, dealing with crashed email and fixing broken toilets: astronauts, they are just like us.
The four crew members zipping through space towards the moon are carrying out a mission unlike any before it, but they are also still muddling on through life’s mundanities – all while they float around together in a square footage equivalent to two minivans.
Mission specialist Christina Koch, the first woman to venture into deep space, said preparing for the 10-day journey was akin to planning for a camping trip.
“It represents togetherness and something a little out of the ordinary,” she said in a video released by Nasa.
Orion wares include 58 tortillas, 43 cups of coffee, barbecued beef brisket and five types of hot sauce.
And one toilet … which had a problem.
It is the first time astronauts venturing into deep space have had a real toilet on board: the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 70s provided crew members with waste collection bags that were ultimately left on the lunar surface.

Much to the astronauts’ relief, Koch remedied the issue with the toilet aboard the Orion. “I’m proud to call myself the space plumber,” she said during a Q&A session late on Thursday with US media.
“I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board,” she said. “So we were all breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine.”
The toilet is in a small cubicle that is quite loud; the astronauts need to wear ear protection when they use it.
But it was “the one place that we can go during the mission where we can actually feel like we’re alone for a moment”, Canadian Jeremy Hansen said during a demonstration video released by the Canadian Space Agency before blast-off.
IT trouble
The Artemis II astronauts also quickly encountered email trouble: mission commander Reid Wiseman said he was experiencing issues with Microsoft Outlook.
“I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks, and neither one of those is working,” he said on Nasa’s live stream.
Members of the Houston-headquartered Mission Control fixed the problem – where would we be without our IT experts?
The astronauts must adhere to a sleep routine to ensure they are rested for the mission that will see them catapult around the moon and conduct a battery of test manoeuvres, equipment checks and scientific observations.


They have sleeping bags that tether to the wall to keep them from floating around the capsule.
“Christina has been sleeping heads down in the middle of the vehicle, kind of like a bat suspended from our docking tunnel,” Wiseman explained, describing their preferred spots for shut-eye.
“It’s more comfortable than you would think,” he added.
But there are no rest days for the weightless: the astronauts have 30 minutes of exercise built in to their schedules.
They use a “flywheel exercise device”, similar to a yo-yo, that can allow for aerobics like rowing as well as provide resistance to perform moves like weighted squats and dead lifts.

It’s paramount that astronauts work out: the microgravity environment takes stress off bones and muscles, which can lead to significant loss without precautions.
Nasa also recently updated their policy to allow smartphones on its flights: “We are giving our crews the tools to capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and video with the world,” the US space agency’s administrator Jared Isaacman wrote on social media in February.
And while their mission demands extreme precision, there is still room for childlike levity.
Hansen took questions from media while wedged in horizontally and described the joy of floating: “It just makes me feel like a little kid.”
For Victor Glover – the first person of colour to fly around the moon – a lot of that raw delight arrived at take-off.
“It was a ride where you’re trying to be professional,” he said. “But the kid inside of you wants to break out and just hoot and holler.”


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United States

‘Space plumber’ to the rescue as Artemis astronauts navigate life aboard Orion

The Artemis II crew speak to Nasa Mission Control in a video conference while en route to the moon on Thursday. Photo: Nasa/AP

A partial view of Earth taken by Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman from a window on the Orion spacecraft as it heads to the moon. Photo: Nasa/dpa

Artemis II crew members float inside the Orion as they head to orbit the moon for the first time in more than half a century on Thursday. Photo: Nasa/AFP

Artemis II’s moon-bound astronauts share first images of Earth’s brilliant blue beauty

Earth is seen from inside the Orion capsule in an image released by Nasa on Friday.  Photo: Nasa via AP

Earth is seen in an image taken by Nasa astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman from the Orion spacecraft’s window on Thursday. Photo: Nasa via AP

Nasa’s Artemis astronauts zoom towards moon after fixing toilet malfunction

The Artemis II crew, from left, Canadian astronaut and mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, mission specialist Christina Koch and pilot Victor Glover. Photo: Nasa via AP

The Artemis II mission’s Orion capsule leaves Earth on its way to fly by the moon on Wednesday. Photo: Nasa TV via Reuters

Nasa embarks on world’s first crewed moon mission in decades amid race with China

Nasa’s Artemis II mission lifts off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photo: Reuters

The Orion capsule leaving Earth. Photo: Nasa TV via Reuters

(From left) Mission specialist Jeremy Hansen, pilot Victor Glover, commander Reid Wiseman and mission specialist Christina Koch. Photo: AFP

Nasa begins countdown for humanity’s first launch to the moon in 53 years

Nasa’s Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft sit on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photo: Getty Images / TNS

Astronaut Victor Glover. Photo: Getty Images / TNS

US astronaut says illness that cut short space mission made him unable to talk

Nasa astronaut Mike Fincke is helped out of the SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after it landed  near San Diego, California, in January. Photo: Nasa via AP

Recovery vessels approach Nasa’s SpaceX Crew-11 capsule after a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, California, in January. Photo: Nasa via AP

(Clockwise from bottom left) Mike Fincke, Oleg Platonov, Zena Cardman and Kimiya Yui gather for a crew portrait on the International Space Station in January. Photo: Nasa via AP

News

World

United States & Canada

It is the first time astronauts venturing into deep space have had a real toilet on board, allowing the crew some ‘alone’ moments


It is the first time astronauts venturing into deep space have had a real toilet on board, allowing the crew some ‘alone’ moments.


Space

Nasa (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

Canada

‘Space plumber’ to the rescue as Artemis astronauts navigate life aboard Orion

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}It is the first time astronauts venturing into deep space have had a real toilet on board, allowing the crew some ‘alone’ moments

It is the first time astronauts venturing into deep space have had a real toilet on board, allowing the crew some ‘alone’ moments