Artemis II astronauts left gutted after serious Chappell Roan blunder

 The Artemis II crew was left let down after a Chappell Roan mishap. During a NASA livestream on Saturday, the team of astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft was roused from sleep by the singer's smash hit, Pink Pony Club.

Currently, the crew is just hours away from completing a pass around the far side of the Moon, an event anticipated to occur on April 6. This will mark the greatest distance the astronauts have ever traveled from Earth as they venture toward the previously unseen lunar surface, which remains tidally locked to our planet.

With the team currently a quarter of a million miles from Earth, NASA officials had one opportunity to rouse them for their day of travel. Unfortunately, things didn't go entirely according to plan. It comes as the Artemis II crew face a second bathroom issue on the 10-day trip with a 'frozen urine' problem.

Given that Pink Pony Club ranks among the hottest tracks right now, it seemed perfectly fitting that NASA officials selected this Chappell hit. Yet this decision left listeners frustrated when the song cut out barely a minute in.

Commander Reid Wiseman remarked, "We were all eagerly awaiting the chorus," drawing audible laughter from the background. The Capsule Communicator was also heard promising to "try again next time," before extending best wishes to the crew for their mission, reports the Mirror.

Wiseman is among the four-person astronaut team that launched from Florida on April 1 for the ten-day expedition. On Monday, for approximately 6 hours, the Sun, Moon, and Orion spacecraft will align perfectly, enabling the crew to observe about 20 percent of the far side as it is illuminated by the Sun.

Now four days into their journey, the crew has observed the far side of the Moon for the first time, with mission specialist Christina Koch describing the sight as "absolutely spectacular".

She stated: "One of the interesting things that happens when you look at a Moon that inherently just looks different is the darker parts aren't quite in the right place. And sure enough, we got our lunar targeting information, and we matched up, and we're like, 'Yep, that is the dark side'."

But there has been a very Earthly issue for them to address on board - the toilet has broken down again.

Until the capsule's restroom is repaired, Mission Control has directed the astronauts to use additional backup urine collection bags.

The most recent updates indicate that the toilet in the compact space capsule was producing strange odors after the crew had reported a 'burning' smell earlier.

Koch contacted Mission Control saying: "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 the toilet several times."

The so-called lunar loo stopped working following Wednesday's launch and has been unreliable ever since. A problem with the toilet was potentially triggered by the "freezing of the vent lines", NASA stated.

A version of the Artemis II toilet was evaluated on the International Space Station several years ago. Chappell's role in the landmark decision comes only a few weeks after she publicly addressed an incident involving soccer player Jorginho and his stepdaughter in São Paulo.