Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
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June 17, 2007

Astronauts Show Relief as Atlantis Mission Nears Completion
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=17DA290:A6F02AD83191E160DD74E3CC3D52358A9574F7DCC14957C0 Computer breakdown
has been fixed by Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg  







Russian cosmonauts, Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, in Star City
outside, Moscow (File Photo - 19 Mar 2007) The seven astronauts of the
US space shuttle Atlantis appeared relieved Saturday night to have the
mission nearly behind them. The feeling was shared by the three
crewmembers of the International Space Station, whose computers
crashed for several days before being fully restored. VOA's Jessica
Berman reports.

The six computers on the International Space Station Russian Zarya
module controlled everything from life support functions, like oxygen
and water supply, to navigation and control of the space station in
orbit.

For several tense days, Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg
Kotov worked to figure out what caused the crash so they could bring
the critical computers back on line.

As they worked, the docked space shuttle periodically fired its
thruster rockets to keep the space station positioned in orbit.
Officials of the US space agency NASA say life support was never an
issue.

The cosmonauts eventually isolated the problem, a faulty power switch,
and they were able to restore four of the computers.

Just when it appeared the other two would be sent home with Atlantis,
Yurchikhin and Kotov got the two remaining, finicky computers on line
as well.

In a news conference with reporters from space, Yurchikhin admits it
was a bit scary when the computers went down.

"Every computer is computer, yes? And nobody understands them very
well about what [it] is thinking. But now we have fixed this problem
and we are very happy about this situation and I hope that everybody
is very glad for this situation. And we fix this, and we continue with
our flight. It is good news. Yes," he said.

Suni Williams, the American space shuttle astronaut who is being
replaced by astronaut Clay Anderson, says people tend to forget how
serious space is.

"It still is pretty darn dangerous. You know, we're living in an
environment that's not very friendly," said Williams.

Sunday, astronauts will conduct a final space walk to complete work on
newly installed solar arrays to power the International Space Station.

NASA has tentatively cleared Atlantis to return home on Tuesday. The
space agency has determined the space shuttle is safe to return home
following the successful repair Friday of a thermal blanket during a
space walk.

The blanket, which was torn during lift off, protects the shuttle from
the heat of re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.


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