Artemis II astronauts make grim discovery moments after lift off on mission around the moon

There was a bit of toilet trouble

The 10-day mission will send four astronauts around the Moon in the Orion spacecraft to test life-support systems, navigation, and deep-space maneuverability before future lunar landings.

The four astronauts on humanity's furthest ever journey into space are NASA's Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency.

If all goes to plan, the mission aims to secure the best view of the moon's dark side that's ever been recorded.

However, not everything has gone to plan shortly after launch, as it looks like the astronauts have faced a technical issue.

As the crew went through life support system checks on board the spacecraft, they noticed something on one of the more crucial aspects of the shuttle, as the BBC reported.

While at first, astronauts told mission control that “toilet is powered, waste tank merged”, just minutes later they said that the toilet's amber warning light was on, meaning something was wrong with the crew’s toilet.

Mission control then told the crew they would need some more time to figure out a solution.

“The fecal collection of the toilet, that specific capability, can still be used with the waste management system aboard Orion”, NASA spokesperson Gary Jordan said, as per Space.com.

However, the good news for the crew is that Artemis 2 mission specialist Christina Koch managed to fix the issue, with the help of Mission Control.

In a press conference after take-off, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman that “NASA is back in the business of sending astronauts to the Moon”, noting that the crew is 'safe, secure and in great spirits”.