With no shuttle flights happening, worries of Russian Soyuz support mounting, and an oxygen-supply problem that the crew can't fix, the odds of the
International Space Station being abandoned are increasing. Though any abandonment is being referred to as "a long way" off, NASA is now assessing
it in its flight readiness reviews.
www.chron.com
Crew members may have to abandon the international space station late this year if astronauts can't fix already weeks-old oxygen supply problems, a
NASA official said Friday.
While space station program manager Bill Gerstenmaier said NASA was "a long way" from making the unprecedented move, the assessment reflected
concerns over multiple attempts to figure out what's wrong with a Russian-made oxygen generator.
The station has a 162-day supply of backup oxygen. If Russians can't launch an unmanned capsule by Christmas to replenish oxygen supplies, the
astronauts could be recalled. But that's only if scientists and the two-man crew don't repair the oxygen generator.
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
The current two-man crew of U.S. astronaut Mike Fincke and cosmonaut Gennady Padalka are scheduled to be replaced on October 10th by U.S. astronaut
Leroy Chiao and cosmonaut Salizan Sharipov. The abandonment scenario currently being discussed has Chiao and Sharipov spending approximately one
month prior to the end of the year preparing the ISS so that it could be controlled by flight controllers in Houston and Moscow Mission Control
Centers.
[edit on 25-9-2004 by John bull 1]