Monday 8 November 2021
Crew exchange on the International Space Station
The return of astronauts in diapers
Before German astronaut Maurer’s flight to the International Space Station, four passengers unload in space and return to Earth. Because the toilet on their SpaceX transport ship was broken, they were disassembled into a diaper. The NASA astronaut sees this as a “small challenge.”
Without a working toilet aboard the “Crew Dragon,” four astronauts exited the International Space Station on Monday. The so-called “Crew-2” – made up of French Esa astronaut Thomas Pesquet as well as NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrae and Megan MacArthur as well as Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshed – will land in the sea off the US state of Florida. Tuesday, as announced by the US space agency NASA.
Since the toilet on Elon Musk’s SpaceX “Crew Dragon” is broken, the four astronauts who have been on the International Space Station since April will have to wear some type of diaper upon their return. This was “suboptimal,” MacArthur said in advance at a press conference. “But there are a lot of little challenges in space travel and we’re ready to take control of them.”
The docking was originally scheduled for Sunday, but was postponed to Monday at short notice due to bad weather.
The quartet has now left the space station before the arrival of German astronaut Matthias Maurer and three other cosmonauts. Their flight into space from Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida had to be postponed several times. Once, adverse weather conditions were given as a reason to postpone space flight.
In another delay, according to NASA, one crew member had a “minor medical problem.” Originally the “Crew-3” missile was supposed to start with the Maurer on October 30. It is now scheduled to start on Wednesday evening at 9:03pm (local time; Thursday 3:03am CET). After the launch of Crew-2, two Russian cosmonauts and only one American cosmonaut are working on the International Space Station.
