Station Crew Works on Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly

(NASA) – Aboard the International Space Station, the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) stopped working overnight. The problem occurred when it was shut down to reconfigure it from a special configuration setup for the shuttle mission. Efforts to turn the system back on failed. The station crew replaced a heater controller assembly for one of the two “beds” that removes carbon dioxide, or CO2, from the station atmosphere.

Additional work was scheduled Friday to investigate whether some of the 12 heaters in the “bed” in question may have a short that would require additional maintenance work. The Russian CO2 removal system (Vozdukh) is working fine. The station crew also can use lithium hydroxide (LiOH) to supplement CO2 removal until the CDRA R&R can be completed.

Expedition 20 Flight Engineer Bob Thirsk works on the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly in the Destiny laboratory. Photo credit: NASA TV

The ISS Progress 34 (P34) cargo craft docked to the aft port of the Zvezda service module Wednesday at 7:12 a.m. EDT carrying 2 ½ tons of food, fuel and supplies for the station crew. The P34 launched July 24 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

The space shuttle Endeavour undocked from the station at 1:26 p.m. Tuesday completing 11 days of cargo transfers and the construction of Japan’s Kibo laboratory.