Space Station's Toilet Breaks Down, Experiences Power Glitch

New York, NY (AHN) - The International Space Station's main bathroom broke down, just ahead of the launch of Expedition 18 on Sunday, NASA officials said.

Though officials also said that the orbiting lab, Expedition 17, experienced a temporary glitch causing the shutdown of power as engineers Oleg Kononenko, Greg Chamitoff and Commander Sergei Volkov were trying to figure out a solution for the toilet.

"It failed late yesterday," NASA spokesperson John Ira Petty was quoted by Fox News, referring to the Russian-built space commode in televised commentary from Mission Control in Houston.

He added, "Russian specialists are troubleshooting. The problem appears to be a [gas] separator issue."

The problem with the main bathroom is forcing the crew to use the head of the Soyuz TMA-12 capsule that is a part of the space station in case of emergencies.

Reports said that a similar problem with the toilet had occurred in the month of June.

However, the latest issue is not expected to delay the launch of the Expedition 18 scheduled for Sunday from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:01 a.m. EDT.