MSNBC (Oberg) - Oxygen problems plague space station

MSNBC (Oberg) - Oxygen problems plague space station

Crew not in imminent danger, but failures keep coming

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5953450/

By James Oberg, NBC News space analyst

Special to MSNBC // Updated: 3:51 p.m. ET, Sept. 9, 2004



HOUSTON - In what should have been the "home stretch" of their six-month
orbital expedition, the crew of the international space station is
struggling with new problems in their critical oxygen production system.
Balky Russian equipment has been nursed along for months, but has now broken
down again in a new and challenging "failure mode."

Astronaut Mike Fincke and cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, who are scheduled
to be relieved by a new crew in mid-October, are not in any imminent danger,
and engineers remain confident that some combination of backup procedures
and unprecedented in-flight repairs can keep the two breathing easy.

Without a quick resolution of this problem, however, the launch of the
new crew would have to be postponed. While not a serious concern yet, the
current crew then might have to set the station on "autopilot" and return to
Earth by the end of October, leaving the station empty for the first time in
four years.

Furthermore, this is just the latest in a series of unexpected glitches
with the oxygen system. MSNBC.com has obtained internal NASA status reports
and has talked with several high-ranking NASA space station officials. The
picture that emerges is one of bouts of growing concern (but still short of
alarm) interspersed with periods of relief and hope.

"Jim Oberg" wrote:

MSNBC (Oberg) - Oxygen problems plague space station

Crew not in imminent danger, but failures keep coming

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5953450/


If anyone doubts that going 'round and 'round in LEO is badly needed
before we go to Mars, this article should remove that doubt.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

"Derek Lyons" wrote in message
...
"Jim Oberg" wrote:

MSNBC (Oberg) - Oxygen problems plague space station

Crew not in imminent danger, but failures keep coming

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5953450/


If anyone doubts that going 'round and 'round in LEO is badly needed
before we go to Mars, this article should remove that doubt.

What was most enlightening was finding out that the company that made the
Elektrons is out of business and the engineer who (by the sound of it) made
the final adjustments to the remaining three units (now on ISS) is dead.

We're going to need a new way to generate oxygen from waste water...

Where's the US oxygen generator?

Jeff
--
Remove icky phrase from email address to get a valid address.