Ahead of the NASA Crew-3 mission scheduled for this weekend, SpaceX has tweaked its toilet tech on the Crew Dragon capsule.
The previous capsules had a minor issue with urine leaks when in space. The company found a tube hooked up to the toilet storage tank as the culprit.
Crew Dragon arrives at Pad 39A by moonlight, where it will be attached to the Falcon 9 rocket that will take it to the International Space Station on Halloween at 2:21 a.m. EDT. pic.twitter.com/8bRr4Q4sc1
— Ben Cooper (@LaunchPhoto) October 25, 2021
The issue was first discovered during the Inspiration4 mission. However, astronauts currently at the International Space Station confirmed that Endeavour, the Crew Dragon used for Crew-2, also has signs of urine leakage.
The leaks are not a significant deal, but SpaceX took preventative measures ahead of the Crew-3 launch. To fix the problem, the tank no longer has joints that can come unglued or disconnected.
Instead, the tank is now an all-welded structure.
NASA is still vetting the change, but approval seems likely before this weekends launch of Crew-3.
SpaceX, of course, holds a multi-billion dollar NASA contract to carry agency astronauts to and from the space station. Crew-3 will be the third operation mission SpaceX flies under the deal. In addition, SpaceX also launched a two-month crewed test flight in the summer of 2020.
