An oxygen generator on the International Space Station has stopped working, a Russian news agency reported Tuesday.
An undisclosed source at the Russian Mission Control Center was quoted by the Russian Interfax news agency as saying the Elektron oxygen generation system had been malfunctioning recently.
“At one time (the system) started working, at another time – stopped,” the source said.
Neither Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev nor National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut John Phillips are threatened with lack of oxygen on the ISS, the source said.
A cargo spacecraft delivered oxygen to the station more often. The crew also can use standby oxygen producers, the source said.
There are plans to send an advanced Russian oxygen generation system to the ISS this year, the Newsru.com Web site reported earlier.
