Artemis II space toilet offers astronauts a private place on lunar flyby

Artemis II's four-person crew is set to launch April 1 for a 10-day trip around the moon, and the Orion capsule includes a new enclosed "hygiene bay" intended to give astronauts a private place during the mission.

The Artemis II crew will launch April 1 for a roughly 10-day flight around the moon in NASA's Orion capsule, and the mission has drawn attention in part for its new enclosed hygiene bay. The four crew members — commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen — will live in about 330 cubic feet of habitable space, roughly the size of two minivans. The hygiene bay is accessed through a hatch on the capsule floor and is meant to provide a one-person stall where astronauts can be alone for a short time. Engineers designed the system to handle both urine and solid waste within the confined environment. Key details: - Launch date and mission: Artemis II is scheduled to depart April 1 for a 10-day lunar flyby with four crew members aboard. - Hygiene bay layout: The private stall is described as phone‑booth‑sized and sits behind a hatch on the Orion capsule floor. - Waste handling: Urine is collected via a hose and will be vented to space periodically; solid waste is placed into bags that are compacted into canisters. - Return and disposal: The solid-waste canisters are reported to return to Earth with the crew for disposal after the mission. - Design and comparison: The hygiene bay was designed by Lockheed Martin and is presented as a more private system than the catheter- and bag-based methods used on Apollo missions. Summary: The new hygiene bay is intended to give astronauts a brief private space during Artemis II's confined lunar flyby, while the capsule's waste systems manage urine and solid waste in ways described as improvements over Apollo-era methods. The mission is set to launch April 1 for a 10-day trip around the moon, and the solid-waste canisters are scheduled to come back to Earth for disposal after the mission.