Not long ago, the Inspiration4 mission put civilian astronauts into orbit for the first time. They went into orbit on board a unique Crew Dragon capsule that dumped the docking hardware ordinarily used to associate with the ISS for a cupola that permitted the astronauts to see space and the Earth during their mission. Likewise in the cupola area was the toilet fitted for the mission.
The group of Inspiration got training on using the space toilet while planning for the mission. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk affirmed by means of Twitter that there were challenges with the toilet without elaboration. We presently realize that during the mission the crew aboard the flight needed to manage an alert going off, and that alarm had to do with the toilet.
Part of the crew training was in how to manage crises. They worked with ground controllers to pinpoint the cause of the issue. Going to the bathroom in space is complex and without specialized hardware, the waste goes wherever however the toilet which would make a marvelous wreck and possibly cause ailment among the crew.
The toilet fitted on board the Crew Dragon capsule has fans inside to guarantee that waste goes where it should. The alerts that went off during the mission showed that one of the fans had a mechanical issue. SpaceX and Inspiration4 crewmembers were evident that the issue with the toilet didn’t place the capsule or the crew at serious risk.
There were times during the mission when the crew in the spacecraft had no communications with the ground. Taking all things together, around 10% of the time the crew had no communications and had the option to work without issues because of their training. Going to the bathroom in space is troublesome and on Inspiration4, just a curtain separated the person using the bathroom from the rest of the crew. Not great, but rather their bathroom had the best view known to universe thanks to the cupola
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