Canadian Space Agency
Astronauts on board Artemis II reported a mysterious burning smell coming from the $23 million advanced toilet system which previously malfunctioned after takeoff.
“Regarding the smell, I just wanted to make sure you all were tracking the EGS notes of the kind of burning heater smell that was coming from toilet several times,” astronaut Chrisna Koch, who fixed the toilet on Thursday, radioed to mission control on Saturday, Space.com reported.
“It was never identified as the source, what it exactly was, but it was identified as an unknown smell,” Koch said.
The four moon-bound passengers reported the smell was similar to the scent of an old electric heater that hasn’t been used in a while, the report stated.
NASA flight controllers initially suspected the mystery burning smell was coming from orange insulation on the toilet’s hygiene bay door.
