The glamour and excitement of space flight come with some pretty mundane life requirements. One of those is the need for working bathroom facilities.

You can’t exactly call a plumber when you’re in space, but Artemis II astronauts have managed to fix their lunar toilet without one. In a blog post on Thursday, NASA shared that the Orion spacecraft’s commode is now operational, following work by the onboard crew and with help from mission control in Houston.

The Artemis II crew lifted off on Wednesday from Florida and later reported a blinking fault light relating to their toilet. According to the post, «mission control teams successfully assessed the data and worked with the crew to troubleshoot and resolve the issue.» 

«The toilet fan is reported to be jammed,» NASA spokesperson Gary Jordan said during live mission commentary, according to the BBC. «Now the ground teams are coming up with instructions on how to get into the fan and clear that area to revive the toilet for the mission.»

 A representative for NASA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

During NASA’s Artemis II mission, four astronauts will orbit the moon for 10 days. Landing humans on the moon’s surface will come later, with an Artemis IV mission scheduled for 2028.

Hearing protection for a very loud toilet

Wondering how exactly one even uses a toilet on a spacecraft? A collaboration between Nat Geo and NASA provided a look inside the Artemis II Orion spacecraft, including its moon-bound loo. 

Among the most intriguing factoids is that astronauts use handholds and foot tethers to keep themselves on the toilet seat. They even wear hearing protection when going to the bathroom because the suction fan and airflow system is so loud.

The space toilet uses a funnel to trap the waste, and then the automatic airflow device pulls it away and into storage containers, The New York Times reports.

Google is sweetening the deal for those who might want to upgrade their plans to use more AI features. The company’s mid-tier AI Pro plan, which costs $20 a month, now includes 5TB of cloud storage that can be used across services, including Gmail, Google Photos and Google Drive.

In addition to that, the plan also bundles in Google Home Premium Standard, which costs $10 on its own and adds expanded capabilities to Google Home devices, like a 30-day event history. A one-month free trial is available for the AI Plus plan. 

In a post on X, Shimrit Ben-Yair, Google’s vice president and general manager of Google One and Google Photos, said that, along with the extra cloud space, AI Pro subscribers or $250-per-month AI Ultra subscribers will get access to new features, like Chrome auto browse to automate online tasks. 

Google has three AI-focused plans: AI Pro, AI Ultra and AI Plus. AI Plus, the lowest paid tier, offers 200GB of cloud storage and access to a limited set of AI features for $8 a month.

To make matters more confusing for those who only have a casual interest in AI, in addition to free Google plans that include 15GB of storage, the company offers nine paid plans, all with monthly or annual billing options. Plans start with a $2-per-month Basic plan and go all the way up to the $250-per-month Ultra plan with 30TB of storage.

Google’s closest non-AI plan is its $10-per-month Premium, which includes 2TB of cloud storage and some access to the Veo 3.1 video generation model. 

With OpenAI deciding to shutter its Sora video generation service, there may be more interest in Google’s image and video generation tools. All of Google’s plans that are $20 and up include 1,000 monthly AI credits, which can be used with Google tools, like Whisk and Flow, to create videos. Depending on the tool and type of video, it can cost anywhere from 10 to 100 AI credits to produce one.

When I tested Alexa Plus last year, I liked that the conversational voice assistant could connect with third-party apps, such as Uber, but many app integrations were still distant promises. That future is now: Starting this week, Alexa Plus is expanding to food delivery, letting users order from Uber Eats and Grubhub. 

Once you connect your Uber or Grubhub app to an Alexa Plus device, you’ll be able to ask about food deliveries and open a window to talk your order out. While Alexa Plus is usually very chatty (in all of its various personalities), the food ordering experience is designed to be minimal, showing your current thoughts and menu decisions in real time. 

When I tried this feature, I could only use it on my Echo Show, not in the Alexa app, because Alexa quickly told me it needed the larger Echo Show to visually walk me through the process. (Amazon says you need an Echo Show 8 or larger.) You may have to reboot your app and devices to reconnect third-party apps before you can start experimenting.

Watching the order text lets you see what you’ve chosen and change it with additional voice commands as you think through your order. Alexa will speak up if you ask for food ideas or help with a meal choice. It’s meant to be a more adaptive, adjust-on-the-fly experience. 

A representative from Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

«What excites us about Alexa Plus is how it turns restaurant discovery and ordering into one seamless, conversational experience,» said Tapojoy Chatterjee, vice president of product at Grubhub. «Customers can simply talk through what they’re craving, ask questions, get recommendations, and build their order in real time.»

You can talk to Alexa Plus about local restaurants, ask to see different menu sections, and get tracking updates by saying, «Alexa, where’s my food?»

How to get Alexa Plus

You currently have a couple of different options. First, you can subscribe to Amazon Prime, which starts at $15 per month and includes Prime Video and Alexa Plus. This is the most affordable option right now.

You could also subscribe to Alexa Plus as a standalone voice assistant service, but that will cost $20 per month. There’s a free version of Alexa Plus you can experiment with on the web app, but remember, without a larger Echo Show, this food delivery conversation can’t happen. 

A small word of warning: When I tested Alexa Plus, it sometimes fell into the trap of promising too much but failing to deliver. That could be risky if you’re asking Alexa about food allergies or menu substitutions, so pay close attention to your final order.