Overview
- A blinking fault light soon after liftoff sidelined Orion’s Universal Waste Management System, and astronaut Christina Koch primed the pump with added water to bring the toilet back online.
- A later failure blocked the urine vent with ice, and Mission Control aimed the capsule so sunlight could thaw the line and let the system resume dumping waste to space.
- While the vent cleared, the crew used a backup device called the Collapsible Contingency Urinal for urine, then received approval to use the toilet for all functions once the line opened.
- NASA’s updates emphasize that procedures worked as designed and the toilet is usable, though some outlets reported a renewed outage that the agency has not confirmed.
- The UWMS debuted on the International Space Station in 2020 and is flying on Orion for the first time, revealing real‑world quirks that will shape designs and procedures for longer lunar missions.