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By Dean Murray

Houston, we have a problem … the toilet’s broken.

NASA’s Artemis II astronauts may have bravely launched into space aboard the largest rocket the U.S. has ever produced, but a problem with their onboard toilet threatened to create a more down-to-Earth issue.

Ahead of the apogee raise burn on Wednesday, April 1, launch day, the Orion capsule crew reported a blinking fault light.

Mission control teams in Houston successfully assessed the data and worked with the crew to troubleshoot and resolve the issue.

They were able to restore the spacecraft’s toilet to normal operations.

NASA said: “The Artemis II crew, working closely with mission control in Houston, were able to restore the Orion spacecraft’s toilet to normal operations following the proximity operations demonstration.”

Orion’s crew module is equipped with the new Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) space toilet, which makes going to the bathroom easier for both women and men while cutting the mass and volume needed for deep-space launches.

Earlier astronauts on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo had no toilets and relied on bags and diapers, but Orion’s compact UWMS improves on the bulky shuttle-era toilet by using air flow to direct waste and featuring a redesigned seat and urine funnel based on female astronaut feedback so both systems can be used simultaneously.