The International Space Station is all about redundancy. There's more than one toilet on the ISS, and there's more than one oxygen supply system that provides precious air for the crew in orbit. It's still not great when one of those systems fails.
An oxygen supply system in the Russian-built Zvezda module of the station failed Wednesday, according to an AFP report. It's not the only oxygen generation system on board, so the crew of six -- which includes three new arrivals from NASA and Roscosmos -- is not in danger.
A Roscosmos spokesperson told AFP that the crew will work to repair the issue this week.
Zvezda has been in orbit for 20 years. NASA describes it as "the early cornerstone for the first human habitation of the station." It contains living quarters, flight systems and life support systems.
This is the latest in a series of air-related issues on the ISS. The crew and ground controllers have been trying to track down a lingering air leak that was recently traced to the Zvezda module. There's no indication yet if there's a connection between the leak and the oxygen system.
CNET reached out to NASA, but didn't immediately hear back.
wierdness201 on October 17th, 2020 at 01:51 UTC »
I have a feeling that once the ISS is decommissioned, we won’t put another one up.
sowaffled on October 16th, 2020 at 20:20 UTC »
Where’s the “....for now” part from the other headlines?
Iceth_Thtea on October 16th, 2020 at 19:30 UTC »
Wasn't the Russian module built for Mir in the late 80's?