Artemis II advances to the Moon with historic records and a broken toilet

The historic Artemis II mission NASA continues on its way to the Moon, marking humanity's return to the natural satellite after more than 53 years since the Apollo program. The crew, composed of U.S. astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, is more than halfway there and is preparing for a moon flyby that could set a new distance record for mankind, surpassing the old Apollo 13 record.

"The Earth is pretty small, and the Moon is certainly getting bigger," pilot Victor Glover reported during the live broadcast from the Orion Integrity spacecraft, according to NASA.

A historic feat... with setbacks

The mission, which combines scientific exploration and technical testing, has recorded a recurring problem: the spacecraft's toilet continues to exhibit intermittent failures since liftoff on April 1. According to NASA, engineers suspect that the pipe may be partially blocked by ice, preventing complete drainage of urine. While the investigation is underway, astronauts use backup bags for physiological needs.

"Space toilets and bathrooms are something everyone can understand ... they always pose a challenge," explained Debbie Korth, deputy director of the Orion program, in a report cited by the AP.

Mission management team chairman John Honeycutt said the astronauts are fine and trained to handle the situation. "It's in good shape right now, but we'd like it to be 100 percent functional."

Unprecedented lunar exploration

Aboard Orion, the crew has begun documenting the Moon's dark side, photographing and analyzing geologic features that have never before been seen by human eyes, including ancient lava flows and impact craters. The maximum flyby distance will be approximately 6,400 kilometers, much closer than the Apollo flights that orbited at 110 kilometers, allowing the astronauts to observe the entire lunar surface, including both poles.

During day four of the mission, astronaut Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen conducted a manual piloting demonstration, testing different propulsion modes and degrees of freedom of the spacecraft, while Wiseman and Glover will repeat the test on April 9 to provide more data to teams on the ground, NASA referenced in a report.

"Last night we got our first look at the far side of the moon, and it was just spectacular," Koch said during an interview live from the spacecraft with the agency.