Recycling Troubles On ISS

The machine brought to ISS by STS-126 to recycle urine into drinkable water isn't working properly. Astronauts attempted to repair it yesterday, but it shut down three hours into a four-hour operating cycle.

The ISS crew is scheduled to double from three to six next May. Clearly, the life support systems of the station have to be working properly for that to be successful. Recycling urine and other wastewater into usable water is an important part of those systems.

Perhaps amazingly, NASA has no backup for the balky machine. Such a situation is symptomatic of trying to run a huge, complex project on a shoestring. Surely, a serious, well-managed, properly funded space program would have adequate supplies of key components to get the job done correctly. That's largely how NASA built the base of its manned spaceflight program in the 1960s, and Apollo not only accomplished its mission, but did so relatively on budget. Trying to count pennies on such programs may be not only pound foolish-- it may put lives unnecessarily at increased risk.