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Glass Animals Band Jokes About Causing Artemis II Toilet Malfunction with Lost Vial
The UK band Glass Animals released a video joking that a vial of tears they lost in the Orion capsule during a 2022 visit to NASA may have caused toilet issues on the Artemis II mission. The crew experienced intermittent toilet problems after launch but resolved them during the flight. The mission achieved a record distance from Earth with a lunar fly-by before returning.
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The Artemis II mission launched on April 1, 2024, carrying four astronauts in the Orion capsule to conduct a lunar fly-by.
The crew traveled farther from Earth than any previous human mission during the fly-by. The mission concluded with a splashdown scheduled for April 5, 2024.
The 10-day mission tested the Orion spacecraft's systems for future crewed lunar landings under the Artemis program. No major issues beyond the toilet malfunction disrupted the flight.
The Orion capsule's toilet experienced intermittent issues shortly after launch on April 1, 2024.
NASA reported the problem as a minor inconvenience that the crew managed without significant impact to operations. The issue was resolved by the seventh day of the mission. Glass Animals, an Oxford-based band, linked the malfunction to their visit to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida two years prior, in 2022.
Animals shared the video on Instagram, joking about the potential connection to the toilet trouble. The band reacted positively to the crew listening to their 2019 song "Tokyo Drifting," featuring Denzel Curry, on the mission's seventh day. The crew did not express concern over the band's confession and continued mission activities.
Glass Animals commented on the launch, noting they watched it with family and expressed inspiration from the astronauts.
II marks NASA's first crewed flight under the Artemis program since Apollo 17 in 1972. The program aims to establish a sustainable human presence on the Moon, with Artemis III planned for a lunar landing in 2026. The toilet issue echoes minor equipment challenges on previous space missions but did not affect the mission's scientific or exploratory goals.
