China watching ‘like a hawk’ as US Artemis 2 crew fixes toilet on moon trip

China would be closely watching the US Artemis 2 lunar fly-by mission, which has already encountered challenges, including a malfunctioning toilet soon after launch, an expert said.As China gears up to bring astronauts to the moon, the first human return to lunar orbit since the Apollo era over 50 years ago could offer Beijing valuable technical insights.Quentin Parker, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Hong Kong, described China as watching the Artemis 2 mission “like a hawk”.Parker said China and other interested spacefaring countries would be “looking attentively at everything they can glean from all the experiences of the Artemis crew and the Artemis mission”.China was likely to note that the Orion spacecraft’s toilet had malfunctioned just hours into the mission, involving one of the most “fundamental” systems on board, he added.03:54The race for the moon’s south pole: can China beat NASA’s 2028 deadline?The race for the moon’s south pole: can China beat NASA’s 2028 deadline?On Wednesday local time, the Space Launch System carrying the Orion spacecraft and a four-member Artemis 2 crew took off from US space agency NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida for a 10-day trip around the moon.