CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. —
The astronauts who will depart the Worldwide House Station as early as this weekend will likely be caught utilizing diapers on the best way residence due to their capsule’s damaged rest room.

NASA astronaut Megan McArthur described the state of affairs Friday as “suboptimal” however manageable.

“Spaceflight is stuffed with a number of little challenges,” she mentioned throughout a information convention from orbit. “This is only one extra that we’ll encounter and care for in our mission. So we’re not too frightened about it.”

Mission managers may resolve later Friday whether or not to convey McArthur and her three crewmates again of their SpaceX capsule earlier than launching their replacements. That launch already has been delayed greater than per week by unhealthy climate and an undisclosed medical difficulty involving one of many crew.

French astronaut Thomas Pesquet instructed reporters that the previous six months have been intense up there. The astronauts carried out a collection of spacewalks to improve the station’s energy grid, endured inadvertent thruster firings by docked Russian autos that despatched the station into transient spins, and hosted a non-public Russian movie crew – an area station first.

Additionally they needed to cope with the bathroom leak, pulling up panels of their SpaceX capsule and discovering swimming pools of urine. The issue was first famous throughout SpaceX’s non-public flight in September, when a tube got here unglued and spilled urine beneath the floorboards. SpaceX fastened the bathroom on the capsule awaiting liftoff, however deemed the one in orbit unusable.

Engineers decided that the capsule had not been structurally compromised by the urine and was protected for the trip again.

On the culinary facet, the astronauts grew the primary chile peppers in house – “a pleasant ethical increase,” in keeping with McArthur. They acquired to pattern their harvest prior to now week, including items of the inexperienced and purple peppers to tacos.

“They’ve a pleasant spiciness to them, slightly little bit of a lingering burn,” she mentioned. “Some discovered that extra troublesome than others.”

Additionally returning with McArthur and Pesquet: NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. SpaceX launched them to the house station on April 28.

One American and two Russians will stay on the house station following their departure. Whereas it might be higher if their replacements arrived first – in an effort to share tips about residing in house – Kimbrough mentioned the remaining NASA astronaut will fill within the newcomers.

The Related Press Well being and Science Division receives help from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Division of Science Training. The AP is solely answerable for all content material.