A breath of fresh Oxygen

Update on the Friday, 24 August, O2 delivery into the ISS atmosphere from ESA’s Jean-Michel Bois at ATV-CC:

View showing the gas & water delivery control panel mounted inside ATV and accessible to the crew.

This afternoon, the ATV tanks successfully transferred around 19 kg of Oxygen (O2) into the air cabin of the Station.

The tank valve was opened for 2 hours and 30 minutes by the crew to directly and slowly diffuse the Oxygen in the cabin; the ISS air ventilation system ensuring a good mixing and distribution of the oxygen inside the various ISS modules.

The valve was nominally closed by the crew at 19:15 CEST when the planned increase in cabin air pressure had been reached.

This transfer allowed, in particular, making up the oxygen lost during the last Extra Vehicular Activity on Monday, 20 August.

This is the second oxygen transferred performed by ATV-3. The ATV tank containing air was emptied at the very beginning of the current ATV mission. Two additional transfers of oxygen are foreseen before ATV-3 undocking on 25 September; these will empty the last ATV tank and successfully complete the transfer of the entire ATV-3 cargo load to the ISS!