 In this image made from NASA TV, Astronaut James Reilly works during his space walk outside the international space station during a visit by the Space Shuttle Atlantis orbiting Earth, Monday. (AP Photo/ NASA TV)
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HOUSTON (AP) - Russian computers that control the international space station's orientation and oxygen and water supplies were partly working again Thursday after failing the day before.
Flight controllers in Moscow were able to re-establish some communication with the computers overnight, and Russian engineers were working Thursday to restore the rest of the system, NASA space station flight director Holly Ridings said.
"They've made a lot of progress overnight. There are some cleanup steps to do still and some investigation," she said.
Officials with NASA and the Russian space agency still don't know why the computers went down. They had never seen that type of failure on the space station before, and they believe it may be related to electrical power rather than computer software. A new solar array had been unfolded outside the station Tuesday to help provide power.
When the computers were being turned back on Thursday morning, a false fire alarm went off on the Russian Zarya module, but Ridings said there was no indication of any fire or smoke.
