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The importance of space toilets, explained

Houston, we have a plumbing problem.

The Artemis II space mission is making history.

Farthest humans have ever traveled in space? Check.

First Black, woman, and Canadian astronauts to make it around the moon? Also check.

First time a toilet has made this journey? Big, important check.

Because while there are many significant questions about space — Is life out there? Could we settle Mars? How far does the universe stretch, really? — one question holds plenty of gravity: What happens when nature calls in space?

This mission hopes to return with answers.

After years of research, the Orion spacecraft used in the Artemis II mission has departed Earth with an actual toilet, door and all.

In the initial hours after the Orion capsule launched, some of the first reports from the astronauts were about their toilet malfunctioning. They quickly fixed it. But, as they approached the moon, potty problems reigned again.

“If you’re going to do longer missions and eventually potentially even have a base on the moon or go even further onto Mars, you first need to figure out: what are you going to be doing for food, for water, and also for peeing and pooping on the spacecraft and on the surface?” K.R. Callaway, a writer with Scientific American, told Today, Explained co-host Sean Rameswaram.

So the simple presence of a toilet on this mission?

“Definitely history-making,” she said.

To understand the significance, Sean sat down with Callaway to discuss the history and future of space toiletry. Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.

Tell us about the history of using the facilities in space.

So back in the ’60s and ’70s, [the] Apollo [program] used these bags. They had different ones for........

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