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Posted on 05/16/2005 7:17:29 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CAPE CANAVERAL - A balky Russian oxygen generator broke down on the International Space Station, but its two-man crew has a reserve air supply that would last about five months, NASA officials said Friday.
The station's primary generator, which has been operating in an on-again, off-again fashion for months, stopped working last week and the station's crew has not been able to fix it.
Mission managers say the unit has failed for good. Consequently, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and U.S. astronaut John Phillips will be relying on reserves until replacement parts arrive at the station in late August.
Kylie Clem, a spokeswoman for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said the reserves would last well beyond the scheduled mid-June arrival at the station of a Russian space freighter with additional supplies.
As it stands, oxygen supplies in a Progress cargo carrier now at the outpost will last until May 22 or May 23.
The crew also is equipped with oxygen generators that work like drop-down emergency air supplies on commercial airliners. Supplies from those would last until early July. Beyond that, there is a 100-day oxygen supply in tanks attached to the station U.S. Quest airlock.
Total air supply now onboard: About 140 days.
Krikalev and Phillips comprise the fifth two-person crew to live and work on the station since the February 2003 Columbia accident grounded NASA's shuttle fleet, cutting off a key supply line to the outpost.
NASA and its 15 international partners since then have been relying solely on Russian spacecraft to haul crews and cargo to and from the station.
The shuttle fleet now is expected to be back in service in mid-July.
Krikalev and Phillips are in the midst of a six-month tour of duty on the half-built station, which is a joint project of the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan, Canada and Brazil.
The two launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 14, arrived at the station two days later and are due back on Earth on Oct. 7.
Russian oxygen generator, eh?
If the thing has an english electrical system, it's doomed!
Just an off-the-wall question, did you ever own a MGB? Or any other British sports car? It sounds like you did.:)
No. Heard enough stories. Then what happened to the european mars probe (beagle??) with the english electrical system tied it all together.
<< If the thing has an english electrical system, it's doomed!
Just an off-the-wall question, did you ever own a MGB? Or any other British sports car? It sounds like you did.:) >>
Me too!
And British airplanes caused similar sufferings.
Bloody Dart Heralds and Vickers Viscounts and early Comets were monsters.
They didn't call Lucas "the prince of darkness," for nothing!
I owned a Triumph motorcycle that had a headlight system that would leave you in the dark at 80MPH without warning. I think it said Lucas on it. It was exciting to say the least.
That's brutal! Mental note: stay away from Lucas!
The Lucas motto: "Get home before dark."
Lucas denies having invented darkness. But they do still have a claim to "sudden, unexpected darkness."
Lucas -- inventor of the first intermittent wiper.
Lucas -- inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.
The three-position Lucas switch -- DIM, FLICKER and OFF.
The other three switch settings -- SMOKE, SMOLDER and IGNITE.
The original anti-theft devices -- Lucas Electric products.
"I've had a Lucas pacemaker for years and have never experienced any prob...."
If Lucas made guns, wars would not start either.
Did you hear about the Lucas-powered torpedo? It sank.
It's not true that Lucas, in 1947, tried to get Parliament to repeal Ohm's Law. They withdrew their efforts when they met too much resistance.
Did you hear the one about the guy that peeked into a Land Rover and asked the owner, "How can you tell one switch from another at night, since they all look the same?" He replied, "It doesn't matter which one you use, nothing happens anyway!"
Back in the '70s Lucas decided to diversify its product line and began manufacturing vacuum cleaners. It was the only product they offered which didn't suck.
Quality Assurance phoned and advised the Engineering guy that they had trouble with his design shorting out. So he made the wires longer.
Why do the English drink warm beer? Lucas makes refrigerators, too.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. Joseph Lucas invented the short circuit.
Recommended procedure before taking on a repair of Lucas equipment: check the position of the stars, kill a chicken and walk three times sunwise around your car chanting: "Oh mighty Prince of Darkness protect your unworthy servant."
Lucas systems actually uses AC current; it just has a random frequency.
And Russian oxygen generators.
I had a car with a lucas mechanical fuel injector system on it. Lucas knew even less about mechanics. ;)
Tell me about it, my MGB's headlights would choose to shut down at night on freeways while I was driving next to 18 wheelers. (I traded it in very soon.)
Let's just Pray that a leak doesn't develope in the station before the new stuff gets there.
Who has this weeks NASROC (new name since they want everything to be so equal nowadays) thread?
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See #13
I flew (rode) a lot of miles in Viscounts back in the early 60's, with never a flicker.
Knew about the problems with the Comets, but not about Dart Heralds.
As I understand it no one else makes a model anywhere near as reliable or robust. The Russians do have some damn good long term orbital experience, it has to be admitted...
Last I heard of the NASA ones (A few years back, admittedly) their costs were ballooning and their multiple capacities outdid the RUssians...but did not work on a relaiable basis. Too many bells and whistles added on without proper planning. I suspect Managemnt pointyheads had more of an input on what was to go into the design than the engineers ever did.
How do you generate oxygen? I thought you just plucked it out of the air or something.
(and before anybody jumps down my throat with a "we got Tang from the space program!" rationalization tirade, I'll let you all know I flew rockets as a kid, am the offspring of a guy who helped to soft-land the first machine on the moon, have installed tracking stations all over the world and have held things in my hands that now sit on the surface of Venus.)
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