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UK band linked to Artemis II's toilet trouble

Ethan GudgeSouth of England
News imageGetty Images/Reuters Composite image. Left: Glass Animals performs on The Tonight Show in front of a digital background showing Saturn with rainbow coloured rings as well as blue beams of light shining from the floor and ceiling. Right: The NASA Artemis II crew, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, Commander Reid Wiseman, and Pilot Victor Glover, pose for a group photo inside the Orion spacecraft.Getty Images/Reuters
Glass Animals have jokingly claimed responsibility for the toilet troubles experienced by the Artemis II crew

Chart-topping band Glass Animals have joked that their visit to Nasa two years ago may have caused the trouble with the toilet used by astronauts on the Artemis II mission.

No humans have ever been further from home than the four Artemis crew members were on Monday, as they conducted a dramatic lunar fly-by.

But before that, the astronauts found there was still one piece of technology that was having some issues - the Orion space capsule's toilet.

In a tongue-in-cheek post to Instagram, Glass Animals - best known for their 2020 sleeper-hit Heat Waves - claimed culpability for the lunar lavatory malfunctions.

In the video, the Oxford band showed a visit they had made to Nasa headquarters at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida - during which the band sat in the Orion space capsule.

The band joked they had snuck in a vial of their own tears to promote their single A Tear in Space, and pretended to hide them in the capsule.

But lead singer Dave Bayley "actually lost" the vial of tears in the capsule and "didn't tell anyone from Nasa".

Bayley is then seen in the video whispering: "They're gone."

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The crew of the Artemis II didn't seem too miffed by Glass Animal's confession, even starting their seventh day in space by listening to the band's 2019 collaboration with rapper Denzel Curry, Tokyo Drifting.

Reacting to the trailblazing astronauts vibing to their song, the band said on Instagram: "Omg... I love u guys."

"Me and my cousins and my mom made popcorn and watched the launch. You guys are inspiring us all down here on Earth," their comment read.

"Ps sorry to hear about the toilet but glad it is fixed," they jokingly added.

News imageGetty Images Dave Bayley of Glass Animals performs on day three of Outside Lands Festival at Golden Gate Park on August 10, 2025 in San Francisco, California.Getty Images
The band joked that lead singer Dave Bayley "actually lost" the vial of tears in the Orion space capsule

After launching from Earth on 1 April , the four astronauts aboard the Artemis II mission's Orion capsule had some intermittent issues with their toilet.

But the lavatory issues proved to just be a small inconvenience as the crew made history, travelling further from Earth than any other human had done before.

The four astronauts completed their mission around the Moon on Tuesday and are expected to splashdown off the coast of San Diego at around 20:00 Friday US EDT (01:00 BST on Saturday).

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