NASA has announced that one of the toilets aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has been taken out of commission, having shown signs of malfunction. Brian Smith, the flight director for the orbital station, says in a statement that engineers are, at this point, unsure of the extent of the damage. It was not immediately clear if the Waste and Hygiene Compartment would be repaired on the spot, or whether more complex repairs or spare parts were needed before work could start.

The breakdown comes at a very bad time, as 13 astronauts are currently aboard the space station. In addition to the six-member crew that resides permanently in orbit, another seven crew members come from space shuttle Endeavor, which is now docked to the station. It's very difficult to service the needs of the average ISS crew with just one toilet, which is the main reason why the larger crew was established only after the second compartment was made to function.

The Russian toilet, located in the Zvezda service module, is still operational. The one that broke down is located in the US Destiny laboratory (Node 2). Endeavor's onboard facilities can also be used while the shuttle remains docked to the ISS, but the troubles will start once the spacecraft returns home. “We don't yet know the extent of the problem. It could turn out to be of no consequence at all. It could turn out to be significant,” Smith said, quoted by Space.

“For right now having all the shuttle crew members using the facilities on the orbiter is not going to be an issue. If it proves to be long term then we'll readdress the situation and see what we have to do. In the short term there is no issue,” he added. The facility was delivered to the space station in November 2008, and costs more than $19 million. If the trouble persists, the astronauts could be forced to use bags, like the ones Apollo 11 crew members had to employ, except that they cannot release them in space. There is a risk of them contaminating the newly installed Exposed Facility on the Japanese Kibo Module.