For second time in one week oxygen generation system breaks down in Russian module of International Space Station
The Electron-VM Oxygen Generation System was shut down in the Russian module of the International Space Station (ISS), reported RIA Novosti.
On January 20, it was also reported that the air conditioning system stopped working in the Russian module Zvezda. Cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov said that the mechanism will be fixed soon and that the crew is not in danger.
The Electron-VM system broke down six times from October to December. A few days ago, the system broke down once again. The crew members tried to fix it, but it didn’t help.
The situation is aggravated by an air leak in the same module which was discovered in August 2020. Since then, Russian cosmonauts have been trying to find a crack. Last week, the search stopped.
Oxygen is scheduled to be delivered in February by the Russian cargo ship Progress. Astronauts in the American segment of the ISS said they are ready to help the Russian crew by providing the an oxygen generating system.
Russians Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, Americans Kathleen Rubins, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, as well as Japanese Soichi Noguchi are currently working on the ISS.
NASA has named two likely air leakage spots in the ISS module. Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin said the crew was able to locate the place of the air leak using a tea bag.