Astronauts
aboard the International
Space Station (ISS) restored the outpost's balky oxygen generator Tuesday
after a series of repair efforts by cosmonaut
Mikhail Tyurin.
Tyurin, a
flight engineer with the space station's Expedition
14 crew, worked with Russian mission controllers to bring the orbital
laboratory's Elektron
oxygen generator back online, NASA spokesperson Lynette Madison told SPACE.com.
"After
running without a hitch...the Elektron was deliberately shut off by Russian
flight controllers to get additional data on valve and electrical continuity
behavior," Madison said, adding that the device--the primary oxygen generator
aboard the ISS--is slated for reactivation later today.
Located in
the space station's Zvezda
service module, the Russian-built Elektron device [image]
separates water into its component oxygen and hydrogen via electrolysis. The oxygen
supports the station's three-astronaut Expedition 14 crew while the hydrogen is
dumped overboard.
But the
generator failed
in mid-September just after NASA's STS-115 shuttle astronauts undocked
from the ISS following their successful construction
mission. Overheating and a leak of
mildly toxic potassium hydroxide used in the Elektron prompted the failure, as
well as a brief
emergency for the space station's then-Expedition
13 crew.
At no time
were the Expedition 13 astronauts or the current Expedition 14 crew, commanded
by veteran spaceflyer Michael
Lopez-Alegria with Tyurin and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas
Reiter, in danger of running out of air, NASA officials said.
The space
station astronauts relied on oxygen-producing candles and other supplies stored
in tanks to maintain their atmosphere.
Tyurin
activated Elektron overnight using laptop, Madison said. The oxygen generator
operated in backup mode--which
it failed to last year--until it was deliberately turned off to gather more
data, she added.
The
generator is a key piece of hardware, especially during periods of increased
activity aboard the ISS such as joint operations during station crew changes
and shuttle missions to complete the orbital laboratory. NASA's next ISS-bound
shuttle flight, STS-116
aboard Discovery, is slated to launch towards the space station on Dec. 7.
To perform
the Elektron repair, Tyurin replaced a series of valves and cables using spare
parts that arrived last week aboard the unmanned Russian
cargo ship Progress 23. That cargo ship [image]
had some initial docking difficulties during its Oct. 26
arrival due to an errant navigation antenna that appeared to not have
retracted properly during the orbital rendezvous.
On Monday,
NASA officials said that after further study Russian flight controllers concluded
that the antenna in fact did not retract properly, but did not prevent the
spacecraft's docking or hatch opening and will likely not impact its stay at
the ISS.
Tyurin and
Lopez-Alegria arrived
at the ISS on Sept. 20 with U.S.
space tourist Anousheh Ansari, who later returned
to Earth with Expedition 13 commander Pavel
Vinogradov and flight engineer Jeffrey
Williams. Reiter has served aboard the ISS since July and is scheduled to
return to Earth in December with NASA's STS-116
shuttle crew.
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