"The shuttle has enough reserves for [a third additional] day," Vladimir Solovyov, a vice president of Russian space operator RKK Energia, said, adding the shuttle could stay at the ISS, though Mission Control was "not insisting on that."
With the steering system of the Russian ISS segment disabled by a computer failure that Energia head Nikolai Sevastyanov said was caused Thursday by a static discharge during one of the shuttle crew's planned spacewalks, Russian space authorities have contacted NASA to "consider the possibility of running the system from the U.S. segment."
Permanent ISS crewmembers are trying to make the station's six computers work without the power units which crashed following the discharge, Sevastyanov said. If they fail, he added, Russia will launch the next scheduled Progress cargo ship on July 23, two weeks ahead of schedule, to deliver new power units.
Sevastyanov did not blame the visiting crew for the problem. "This is just a coincidence," he said.
He also said the station was under control, and all crewmembers felt well.
