NASA Preparing Oxygen Generation System for Space Station (Forwarded)

Katherine Trinidad
Headquarters, Washington Feb. 9, 2006
(202) 358-3749

Tracy Young
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(321) 867-2468

Steve Roy
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
(256) 544-0034

RELEASE: 06-061

NASA PREPARING OXYGEN GENERATION SYSTEM FOR SPACE STATION

NASA is preparing to launch an oxygen generation system to the
International Space Station. The system uses water to generate
breathable oxygen for crew members. Life support systems like this
are necessary to support future long-duration missions to the moon,
Mars and beyond.

The system was shipped from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center,
Huntsville, Ala., on Jan. 24, and arrived the next day at the
agency's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The system will be installed in a
pressurized cargo compartment later this month for a possible May
launch aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.

"Delivering this hardware to the space station is a major step toward
achieving the full potential of the complex," said Mike Suffredini,
station program manager. "Once complete, the regenerative life
support system will sustain additional crew members onboard that can
conduct more scientific research. It also will give us experience
operating and sustaining a 'closed-loop' life support system similar
to that necessary for future human spaceflight missions farther from
Earth," he added.

The system will also help replace oxygen lost during experiments and
airlock depressurization. Once activated, the oxygen generation
system may daily provide up to 20 pounds of oxygen. During normal
operations, it will provide 12 pounds daily; enough to support six
crew members. The system will tap into the station's water supply and
split the liquid into hydrogen and oxygen molecules. The hydrogen
will be pushed into space, leaving the oxygen for the crew. The
system is designed to operate with little monitoring.

"Advancing life-support technology will become increasingly important
as we pursue missions to the moon and Mars," said Bob Bagdigian,
project manager at Marshall's Center for the Regenerative
Environmental Control and Life Support System.

The oxygen generation system is one of two primary components in the
station's regenerative environmental control and life support system.
The other component, the water recovery system, is planned for
shipment to Kennedy early next year, once testing and design
modifications are completed.

The water system is designed to provide clean water by recycling
wastewater and crew member urine. The recycled water must meet purity
standards before it is used to support crew, payload and spacewalk
activities. The recovery systems will be packaged into three
refrigerator-sized racks for installation in the station's U.S.
Destiny lab module.

The station relies on a combination of expendable and limited
regenerative life support technologies in Destiny and the Russian
Zvezda service module. The advances made in the regenerative
environmental control and life support system will help cut station
operating costs. Less money will be needed to launch fresh supplies
of air, water and expendable life support equipment to the station
and return used equipment to Earth.

The oxygen generation system was designed and tested by Marshall and
Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International, Windsor Locks, Conn.

For information about the International Space Station, including crew
activities, future launch dates and sighting opportunities on the
Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/station

For information about NASA's Space Shuttle Program on the Web, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle