Artemis II blasts off on first crewed lunar mission since Apollo

And of course the Orion toilet malfunctioned

Toilet trouble, telemetry problems, and an issue with the flight termination system have not marred the Artemis II mission to the Moon, which launched yesterday.

The four-person crew, consisting of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, and the Canadian Space Agency's Jeremy Hansen, was sent into orbit during the first launch opportunity on April 1.

The crew was packed into the Orion capsule, dubbed Integrity, a few hours before launch. Liftoff took place at 22:35:12 UTC after a number of snags during an otherwise trouble-free count. While the leaks that vexed an early Wet Dress Rehearsal did not reappear, several last-minute glitches cropped up, including a problem with the Flight Termination System and a battery temperature warning on the Launch Abort System.

In the closing minutes of the countdown, controllers reported a brief telemetry dropout, but the duration was within allowable limits.

The glitches continued once the spacecraft reached orbit. Communication from the ground to the capsule was briefly lost and the toilet aboard Orion malfunctioned, requiring crew intervention to resolve the issue.

While a bathroom issue would have been very unlikely to halt the mission – backup plans exist for such an eventuality – troublesome toilets have long been a feature of human spaceflight. Orion joins a long list of spacecraft, including the Space Shuttle and International Space Station, that have suffered breakdowns.

Still, there's always the Apollo-era Fecal Containment Device.

The Artemis II crew is currently orbiting Earth ahead of a burn intended to send the spacecraft around the Moon. Where Apollo-era missions performed the Trans-Lunar Injection burn soon after launch, controllers will take more time to ensure the Orion spacecraft checks out before using the European Service Module to send the vehicle on a free-return trajectory, looping around the Moon then heading back to Earth.

If all goes well, the lunar flyby should happen on April 6.

Splashdown is planned for April 11, after which focus will turn to Artemis III and the lunar landing mission, Artemis IV. The gap between Artemis I and II was more than three years. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said that Artemis III, which will test lunar landing technology, will go ahead in 2027, and the Artemis IV landing is planned for 2028.

The timeline is ambitious considering that it depends on third parties, namely SpaceX and Blue Origin. SpaceX has some way to go until its lander, which depends on the company's Starship rocket, is ready for crew. While Artemis II is headed to the Moon, a flight test of SpaceX's latest rocket has yet to take place.

Regardless of how distant a lunar landing remains, Artemis II is a major achievement, and the prospect of humans looping around the Moon for the first time in more than half a century is historic.

Controllers will keep the Champagne on ice until the crew is safely back on Earth. It will be a long ten days for engineers monitoring the spacecraft on its voyage to the Moon and back. ®