Space tourism is seeing new heights after the successful launch of the SpaceX nonprofessional astronaut crew that orbited the Earth, and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin’s first flight into space. From now on, you will only see the space tourism industry expanding, and getting better and better. However, for something to get better, there needs to be some experimentation and an element of trial and error, to optimize the space tourism experience.

Until then, you’ll probably come across news and horror stories from passengers who will venture into space–such as a broken toilet in space.

Karolina Grabowska/Pexels | Imagine paying all that money, just to have someone’s waste in the air

SpaceX Crew

Coming back to Earth after a space mission must feel like a relief, especially for those astronauts who went on a SpaceX capsule to the International Space Station in April 2021 because they were finally able to use toilets and say goodbye to diapers. The unfortunate breaking of the toilet in the SpaceX capsule in 2021 had SpaceX crew members landing on Earth wearing diapers! Expedition commander Thomas Pesquet talked about the mission and mentioned the numerous challenges that came with it. The crew managed to carry out a series of spacewalks, installed solar panels for the station’s power grid, hosted a Russian film crew, and even grew green chile peppers in space.

Chitokan/Pexels | They even made tacos, how awesome is that?

The Toilet Problem

In a press conference, Megan McArthur, who is a NASA astronaut, confirmed that the toilets on Dragon Endeavour had, indeed, broken. She went on to add that space flights usually come with numerous small challenges that the crew has to deal with–and broken toilets happen to be a part of one of those challenges.

Pixabay/Pexels | Would you be interested in going to space now?

Interestingly, this is not the first time the SpaceX Dragon capsule has been plagued with toilet problems. It was reported that an alarm went off on the famous SpaceX all-tourist flight, which signaled a problem with the waste management system. Bill Gerstenmaier, the vice president at SpaceX, further elaborated that the problem came up when the urine storage system got disconnected, which meant that the urine entered the fan system. Luckily, the whole urine ordeal did not end up disrupting the SpaceX tourist trip.

We don’t know about you but we sure aren’t stepping aboard any space capsules without giving their plumbing and toilets a thorough examination. After all, how can you even enjoy being in space with a diaper on?