Elon Musk says Inspiration4 crew had ‘challenges’ with the toilet

SpaceX’s Inspiration4 Orbital Mission with four lay astronauts was obviously a triumph for space history, space tourism and fundraising for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. However, there may have been moments of tension when it came to using the restroom aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft.

founder of SpaceX Elon Musk tweeted on Monday evening that the Inspiration4 crew had “challenges” with the toilet. He promised improvements for future missions.

For better or worse, Musk didn’t spell out the exact challenges. The all-civilian crew of four included Shift4 Payments founding billionaire Jared Isaacman, St. Jude’s medical assistant and childhood cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux, geoscientist Sian Proctor and aerospace industry professional Chris Sembroski. .

SpaceX hasn’t revealed much about how the toilets work, but Isaacman told Insider in July that the facilities were located near the the big window of the spaceship dome with a curtain to allow some privacy. He described the washroom as having “a hell of a view.”

Toilets in space can be tricky. The The International Space Station has new toilets Last year. It uses a vacuum system to keep trash from floating around and incorporates upgrades to better accommodate female astronauts.

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet flew to the ISS aboard a Crew Dragon earlier this year and tweeted a photo of the toilet on its way, calling it “one of the spaceship’s most secret but most useful systems”.

Inspiration4 spent three days in orbit before returning to Earth with a water landing on Saturday. It’s three days of using the bathroom in microgravity while being very close to others. Anything that improves the washroom situation will no doubt be welcomed by the next crew aboard the Dragon.