Vinh quang nghề sửa ống nước

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As Jared Isaacman and his three fellow crewmates were freeflying through
Earth's orbit (quỹ đạo), shielded from the unforgiving vacuum of space by nothing but a 13-foot-wide carbon-fiber capsule, an alarm started blaring.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft's systems were warning the crew of a "significant" issue, Isaacman said. They'd spent months poring over (nghiền ngẫm) SpaceX manuals and training to respond to in-space emergencies, so they leaped into action, working with SpaceX ground controllers to pinpoint (xác định chính xác) the cause of the error (nguyên nhân gây lỗi).

As it turned out, the Crew Dragon wasn't in jeopardy (cảnh nguy hiểm, cảnh hiểm nghèo). But the on board toilet was.

Nothing in space is easy, including going to the bathroom. In a healthy human on Earth, making sure everything ends up in the toilet is usually a matter of simple aim. But in space, there is no feeling of gravity. There's no guarantee that what comes out will go where it's supposed to. Waste can — and does — go in every possible direction.

To solve that problem, space toilets have fans inside them, which are used to create suction (sự mút, sự hút). Essentially they pull waste out of the human body and keep it stored away.

And the Crew Dragon's "waste management system" fans were experiencing mechanical problems. That is what tripped the alarm the crew heard.

Bài trước: Máu, mồ hôi và nước mắt