Vice President SpaceX NASA former employee William Gerstenmaier said during SpaceX’s first private flight last month, a tube fell off, spilling urine onto the fan and under the floor. The same problem was recently discovered inside the Dragon capsule on the space station.
Gerstenmaier explained that the Dragon capsule carrying the billionaire and three others on a three-day flight had the same problem in a less serious condition. That’s because the NASA-led crew only spent one day living in it before arriving at the space station.
SpaceX is conducting tests to ensure the spilled liquid does not weaken the capsule that has been orbiting for the past six months. Gerstenmaier said any structural damage could harm astronauts during their return flight to Earth next month. The final test should be finished this weekend.
As a permanent fix, SpaceX has welded the urine flushing tube inside the new capsule called Endurance. NASA hasn’t finished reviewing the hotfix yet.
NASA astronaut and spacecraft commander Raja Chari said Tuesday he has complete confidence in the repair. SpaceX moved swiftly on this issue with hundreds of people working on it to ensure crew safety.
The delayed launch 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, following the retirement of the shuttle fleet in 2011.
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Boeing hasn’t launched a rocket at all. Starliner capsule retest flights, unmanned, were suspended until next year due to valve problems.
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