Uhhhh Moscow we have a problem.

ISS Oxygen Generator Fails for Good, Station Managers Say
By Todd Halvorson
FLORIDA TODAY
posted: 14 May 2005
10:05 a.m. ET

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.

[coldwar]

Originally Posted by MedMech

ISS Oxygen Generator Fails for Good, Station Managers Say

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.

Could we rely on a Lada to get us to and from work every day?

Dave

[boneheaddoctor]

Do you suppose they have to return the item to the manufacturer to collect on the warranty?

[cmac2012]

To me, this underscores the fallacy of thinking that we are actually going to travel to another galaxy. Since the trip to the closest one would take around 3,000 years with current technology, the crew would have to rasie children on board for multiple generations, grow food somehow or have enough stored, and would have to be able to repair things like oxygen generators for a lonnngg time.

Even if we could travel the speed of light, it would be 4 years to the closest star, and the chances of there being an earth like planet, at the proper phase in its lifespan (not boiling, not frozen), in any one solar system are way slim.

Furthermore, traveling at near the speed of light, you would probably explode into a fiery crash if you so much as struck a BB sized piece of gravel, and space is full of plenty of that.

Remember on Star Trek, when things would get real hairy and some instrument panel would explode into sparks and flames? I would imagine if that happened in deep space, about 4 years travel time away form earth, you might be looking at death in about 5 minutes.

Sorry to get all serious on you (unlike me), with the amusing (and slightly shocking) story you posted but I think we're dreaming about finding another earth.

edit: Whoops, a real scientist would cut me apart. When I said galaxy above, I meant to say solar system. Supposedly a small galaxy is in the process of a multi-million year colliding/passing through the Milky Way but the others are so far away, compared to other stars in the our own galaxy, it is inconceivable that even Capt. Kirk and Scotty (I'm giv'n her all I kin, Kiptain) could make the trip. Is this about right? I'm not absolutely certain.

[TX76513]

Originally Posted by boneheaddoctor

Do you suppose they have to return the item to the manufacturer to collect on the warranty?

No....but there is a core charge

I wonder on something like the space station and something as important as O2 that they don't have 2 of them? Yugo's had emergency brakes.

Since the generator has been puking out for some time now how come they didn't send a new one up with the emergency food mission.

[diametricalbenz]

Originally Posted by MedMech

I wonder on something like the space station and something as important as O2 that they don't have 2 of them? Yugo's had emergency brakes.

Since the generator has been puking out for some time now how come they didn't send a new one up with the emergency food mission.

They might have had to gamble with the space and weight issues. They can recycle oxygen knowing that they have the reserve but they can't produce food on board....or at least not that I know of.....I doubt there's enough space for a sustainable hydroponics farm.

inetd:

Thanks for the info::::::I think

Do you think privatization would be beneficial? Many people with big bucks seem to think so.

[Rahulio1989300E]

Originally Posted by boneheaddoctor

Do you suppose they have to return the item to the manufacturer to collect on the warranty?

BBAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHH!!!!!!

[boneheaddoctor]

Ummmmmm this item wasn't made by the Russian subsidiary of Lucas Electric by any chance was it?

[cmac2012]

Originally Posted by inetd

I'm truly embarrassed to have it known I work there. And I'm not even in the manned spaceflight division.

Hey if you're involved in the un-manned probes, you got my vote. Makes more sense to me than the manned stuff.

[TN-W124 Diesel]

they got the oxygen generator at Walmart, made in China