SpaceX is working on the issue of a toilet spill in its capsule before launching another NASA crew.

SpaceX is working to address some of the toilet issues in its Dragon capsule before launching four more astronauts.

The company and NASA want to ensure that the toilet leak will not affect the launch of the capsule on Sunday morning from the Kennedy Space Center or from any other vehicle that has been parked on the International Space Station since April.

During SpaceX’s first private flight last monthA tube came loose, pouring urine into the fan and underground, said William Gerstenmaier, SpaceX vice president who works at NASA. He told reporters Monday night that a similar problem was recently discovered inside the Dragon capsule on the space station.

As a permanent solution, SpaceX welded urine-purifying tubes to the inside of the company’s newest capsule, which the German-American crew called the Endurance. NASA has yet to complete its last-minute repair review.

Crew of 3 astronauts, left, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer of Germany, NASA astronauts Tom Marshburne, Raja Chari and Kayla Barron pose for a photo after arriving at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Tuesday, October 10. 26, 2021 (AP Photo/John Raoux)

NASA astronaut Raja Chari, commander of the spacecraft, said Tuesday he has “complete confidence” in the repair. He noted that SpaceX quickly addressed the issue, with hundreds of people working on it to ensure crew safety.

For the Dragon capsule in orbit, the amount of urine that accumulates under the floor plate is less than what a billionaire and three others carried on a three-day trip, Gerstenmaier said. That’s because the NASA-led crew only spent a day living there before reaching the space station.

Gerstenmaier said SpaceX is running tests to ensure that the spill has not weakened the orbital capsule over the past six months. Any structural damage could harm astronauts during their return journey to Earth next month. He indicated that the final exams would end this weekend.

This will be the fourth launch of NASA SpaceX astronauts and the fifth passenger flight overall. NASA turned to SpaceX and Boeing to transport crews to and from the space station, after the shuttle fleet retired in 2011. American astronauts rode Russian rockets until SpaceX took over the mission last year.

Boeing hasn’t fired anyone yet. Test flights of the Starliner’s often unmanned capsule were suspended until next year due to valve problems.

After SpaceX’s Falcon rocket launches, German astronaut Matthias Maurer will become the 600th person in space, according to NASA statistics. He said at a press conference on Tuesday that he was offering fellow American crew member Kayla Barron a rating, which would be 601.

“Together, we will be like 600,” Maurer said. “I got lucky and got the numbers right, but we’re all going to have fun in space,” Maurer said.

–