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International Space Station Oxygen Producer Breaks
By Associated Press
posted: 05:20 pm ET
15 May 2002
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ The international space station's three residents are using a backup method of producing oxygen while trying to fix a broken generator. The primary oxygen generator on the orbiting outpost has been working intermittently over the past few weeks and, as of Wednesday, was not operating at all. Space station commander Yuri Onufrienko and his two American crewmates have been using solid-fuel canisters to produce oxygen; a similar canister erupted in flames aboard Russia's Mir space station in 1997. NASA spokesman James Hartsfield said the crew, whose six-month mission ends in June, has plenty of oxygen to breathe because of the backup sources. He said the on-board supply is good for three months or more. ``There is no urgency at all to the situation,'' he said. Russian flight controllers suspect a faulty sensor in the oxygen generator and are developing computer software to work around the problem. Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to blast off May 30 with a fresh space station crew and a load of oxygen. Mission Control, meanwhile, ordered an orbit-raising maneuver for the space station Wednesday evening in order to avoid a piece of space junk. A chunk of an old Russian rocket had threatened to come within two miles or the orbiting outpost on Thursday.
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