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NASA astronauts face hardest spacewalk to finish repair

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-22 20:15

Space station commander Mike Fincke said it's common for things to go wrong in a flight test and stressed that he wasn't worried - so far. Nor was he concerned about eventually drinking the final product.

Related readings:  Astronauts end space walk marred by lost tool bag  Astronauts hitch giant crate to space station  Astronauts prepare to unpack Endeavour's cargo  Purified urine to be astronauts' drinking water

"It's just the water that's taken out," Fincke said Friday. "It's really clean and purified water. In fact, it's probably more pure than most people's tap water. So I'm not afraid to drink it."

Of all the home-improvement gear delivered to the space station by Endeavour, the water recycling system has drawn the most attention. NASA sees it as the future in deep-space exploration - and also to future life on the home planet.

"This technology of how to reuse our things and be careful with them is really applicable to life on planet Earth," Fincke said.

The system's urine processor was started up as Thursday's spacewalk was ending, but promptly shut down. Flight controllers reactivated the device Friday. It ran for two hours before sensors detected motor problems and shut it down again.

If it's a bad sensor, it might be possible to bypass or repair it, Fincke said. But if the motor itself is at fault, NASA would have to send up a spare part on a future flight.

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