A Busted Toilet Kicked Off a Seriously Crappy Night on the ISS - Gizmodo Australia

It was another long night aboard the International Space Station, as the crew had to deal with a series of minor problems, in what is starting to sound like a broken record.

The first problem to emerge last night was a broken toilet located in the Russian segment.

Cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin reported the problem to ground controllers, who suspect the issue is an air bubble that formed in the system, according to Russian news agency Interfax.

An update from AFP suggests the toilet problem has since been fixed.

Had it not been fixed, however, the cosmonauts could have relieved themselves in a toilet located in their Soyuz-MS-16 spacecraft, which is currently docked to the ISS.

A potentially more serious problem emerged later the same evening when the Russian oxygen supply system — yes, the same one from last week — broke down once again.

Water used to generate oxygen had run out, but, like the toilet, this problem was evidently also fixed, AFP reports.

Located in the Zvezda module, the Electron-VM oxygen supply system is one of two on the ISS, the other being NASA’s Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS).

NASA’s system can sustain the six-member crew, and there are spare oxygen tanks available should things really go sideways.

According to Russian news agency TASS, all problems were resolved over the course of the night.

A spokesperson for Russian space agency Roscosmos said: “All of the station’s systems are operating normally, there is no danger to the crew’s safety and the ISS journey.”.

Another problem on the ISS — a pesky air leak that began in September 2019 — has finally been located and temporarily fixed.

The International Space Station, it’s fair to say, is starting to show its age (the orbital outpost dates back to 1998)

When the Russian oxygen supply system failed last week, veteran Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka said all Russian modules are “exhausted” and that they rely on expired equipment in dire need of replacement, as RIA Novosti reported