Four astronauts were removed from the ISS without an operating toilet

“Crew-2” has been in space for almost 200 days, and now two Americans, a Japanese and a Frenchman are returning to Earth from the ISS – albeit with difficulty

Space travel

Cape Canaveral (AP) – Four astronauts died Monday from the International Space Station (ISS) without an operating toilet aboard their “Crew Dragon” ship.

The spacecraft, known as “Crew-2”, comprises French astronaut Thomas Pesket, NASA astronauts Shane Kimberly and Megan McArthur and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshaid, was at sea off the U.S. state of Florida on Tuesday. (4:33 pm CET) The land was announced by the US space agency NASA. After the shutdown, the spacecraft, loaded with about 250 kilograms of scientific experiments, must first fly around the space station to take photos for upcoming repairs.

The astronauts on SpaceX’s Elon Musk’s “Crew Dragon” ship have broken a toilet, so four astronauts on the ISS from April will have to wear a diaper when they return. McArthur had said in advance at a press conference that it was “peak”. “But there are many small challenges in space travel and we are ready to tackle them.”

Astronaut Marar may depart Thursday morning

Originally, the removal of “Crew-2” was scheduled for Sunday, but was postponed to Monday with a short notice due to bad weather. After the successful landing of “Crew-2”, German astronaut Matthias Mauer with his “Crew-3” may depart for the ISS early on Thursday morning (CET).

The 51-year-old Charland’s start was originally scheduled for the last weekend of October, but has already been postponed several times – due to bad weather and a team member’s “minor medical problem”. NASA said the problem would be solved in the beginning, and now the weather for the scheduled date was initially happily predicted.

For the first time in three years, a German astronaut is about to fly into space with Marr. Together with NASA colleagues Thomas Marshburn, Raja Sari and Kyla Barron, it will take off from the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida. All four astronauts are to be carried on the “Crew Dragon”.

Marar was the twelfth German in space

With this aircraft, Maurer will be the twelfth German in space, the fourth in the ISS and the first person to fly there in the “Crew Dragon”. At the ISS, the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut will perform several tests at an altitude of about 400 kilometers for about six months, and will complete the outer spacecraft. Finally in 2018 Alexander Kerst was a German astronaut in space.

A handover was actually planned between “Crew-2” and “Crew-3” on the ISS ship. NASA astronaut Kimbro told a news conference that it was now failing, but that it was not a problem. NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hay, who arrived at the ISS in April with astronauts Oleg Nowsky and Piotr Dubro, is now taking over the mission.

Maurer greeted the “Crew-2” safe journey Monday via the SMS service Twitter. “It’s a shame we won’t let each other fly at the space station, but we hope you leave everything neat.”

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 211109-99-920115 / 2