An Artemis II astronaut became a “space plumber” for the day, after the spacecraft encountered toilet trouble. On the first day of the historic mission, the crew reported the $30m (£22.6m) Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) onboard the rocket was not working due to an issue with the toilet fan. After mission control teams on the ground assessed data, they were able to fix the problem with the help of the Artemis II crew, notably Christina Koch. Commenting on the malfunction, Koch said: “I’m proud to call myself the space plumber”, adding the whole crew breathed a sigh of relief when the “most important piece of equipment” began functioning as normal.

The toilet system on board NASA's Artemis II mission had a brief issue after launch.

Track the progress of the Artemis II mission with the latest updates and news from the historic mission to the moon's orbit.