ISS: Toilet defect – Drop the toilet in the board on the return flight to Earth

Cape Canaveral. Four of the current crew of the ISS space station have to do without the toilet in their SpaceX capsule when they return to Earth – it is flawed. NASA astronaut Megan McArthur described the opportunity to fly in diapers on Friday as “subtle”, but quickly added that staying in space was “smallly challenging”. “This is another thing to look out for in our work. We don’t really care about that.”

Whether McArthur and his three colleagues will return to Earth over the weekend – perhaps Friday (US time) – remains to be decided by those in charge on Earth. The flight of the successor crew with German astronaut Matthias Mauer has been postponed. Their capsule also had problems with the on-board toilet, which, unlike the one in orbit, could be fixed.

Along with McArthur, French astronaut Thomas Pesket, Japanese Akihiko Hoshide and American Shane Kimpro will return to Earth. One US and two Russian team members are on the ISS.