spacetoday.net: NASA raises concerns about ISS oxygen

Posted: Sat, Sep 25, 2004, 9:52 AM ET (1352 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

NASA space station managers said Friday they are keeping an eye on oxygen supplies on the International Space Station, but stressed that the station was not in immediate danger of running low on oxygen. Concerns about the oxygen supply on the station stem from the failure of an Elektron oxygen-generating unit on the station earlier this month; NASA reported a week ago that the unit had been repaired, only to have the unit fail again within days. The station currently has 162 days worth of oxygen on the station, in the form of gas tanks and oxygen candles. Those supplies, along with food supplies, will fall to a 45-day "red line" by late December, around the time a new Progress cargo spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at the station. Should that Progress launch be delayed, the ISS crew would likely have to evacuate the station. A new Elektron unit will not be available for launch until at least January, but officials said that so long as the Progress flights launch on schedule there would be plenty of oxygen on the station.