Space Station's Main Oxygen Generator Fails
Astronauts Using Emergency Back-Up Supply
POSTED: Wednesday, January 5, 2005
UPDATED: 7:53 am EST January 6,
2005
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The International Space Station's main oxygen generator has failed, forcing astronauts to use an emergency back-up air supply, according to Local 6 News.
NASA officials said Russian Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov and crewmate Leroy Chiao are not in any immediate danger and engineers are confident that some backup procedures and in-flight repairs can keep the two astronauts breathing easy, Local 6 News reported Wednesday morning.
It is believed that there are enough reserves onboard the space station to last its crew at least another 60 days if there are no other mechanical failures.Sharipov and Chiao reportedly have enough oxygen to last well beyond the scheduled March 2 arrival of a Russian Progress resupply ship. Without the back-up supply, the oxygen would last only another seven to 10 days.The oxygen generator has been a constant source of trouble on the space station, according to NASA reports.The latest incident happened back in October when the unit turned itself off. Officials even talked of abandoning their mission to return to Earth when the generator stopped.Officials have always been able to fix the problem but so far all attempts to restart the equipment have failed.Russian engineers believe gas bubbles may have caused the most recent shutdown.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
NASA officials said Russian Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov and crewmate Leroy Chiao are not in any immediate danger and engineers are confident that some backup procedures and in-flight repairs can keep the two astronauts breathing easy, Local 6 News reported Wednesday morning. | Video |
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