Current Space Station Problems

From "Space Station Mission Opposed
Despite Safety Concerns of Some Experts, NASA Decided to Send New
Crew"
By Eric Pianin and Kathy Sawyer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 23, 2003; Page A01

"Two officials responsible for health and environmental conditions on
the space station refused to approve the launch of the new crew,
instead signing a dissent that warned about "the continued
degradation" of the environmental monitoring and health maintenance
systems and exercise equipment vital to the astronauts' well-being.

NASA's flight team is unable to assess the quality of air or water and
the radiation levels aboard the space lab because of a growing array
of hardware problems that have not been corrected and that may
constitute the kind of subtle, creeping risk that NASA officials have
vowed to avoid based on the harsh lessons learned from the Feb. 1
Columbia shuttle accident, according to documents, minutes and
interviews obtained by The Washington Post.

The problems with monitoring environmental conditions aboard the space
station have festered for more than a year, some NASA medical
officials said. Space station astronauts have shown such symptoms as
headaches, dizziness and "an inability to think clearly," according to
a medical official who asked not to be named. The onboard sensors
designed to provide real-time analysis of the air, water and radiation
levels have been broken for months, which has made it impossible to
determine at any given time whether there is a buildup of trace
amounts of dangerous chemical compounds that could sicken the
astronauts, or worse.

Nigel J. Packham, a NASA environmental factors specialist, said at the
meeting that while controls were in place to respond to large releases
of gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide, "no capability
exists" to monitor trace contaminant accumulations that over time
could pose serious risks to the astronauts working and living in close
quarters, according to the minutes. There are more than 200 hazardous
materials and chemicals aboard the space station that must be tracked
and accounted for to protect the astronauts.

The two-man crew scheduled to return from the space station on Monday
will bring along a "solid sorbent air sampler" that will show NASA
scientists the composition of the air aboard the station during one
24-hour period. NASA officials have promised to send up, through a
Russian Progress supply craft, a replacement device for monitoring
radiation levels, and said they intend to work out the problems with
the exercise equipment and the defibrillator.

But the results of the air sampling will not be known until December."
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Sounds a little scary. Like they won't be able to tell if there is a
slow decrease of O2 or slow build up of CO2, which could cause them to
just go to sleep and stop breathing.
Ellen