Astronauts install water recycler on space station

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Astronauts hooked up a water recycling system and installed two new bedrooms aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday while crew mates prepared for a second spacewalk to fix the outpost's power system.

The work is part of a final effort to complete the $100 billion orbital complex, a project involving 16 nations, by 2010 when the space shuttles are to be retired.

For 10 years, NASA's shuttle fleet has provided bulk delivery, construction and repair services for the space station with regular visits by seven-member crews and a cargo hold that can tote 50,000 pounds (22,680 kg) to and from orbit.

The shuttle also has provided nearly all of the water needed to support the station's three live-aboard crew members. The shuttle's electrical system makes water as a byproduct, which is bagged and transferred to the station.

Next year, NASA and its international partners plan to double the station's crew size to six, making water recycling important.

The new system takes urine, condensation from the air and other wastewater and turns it into drinking water.

The space station crew, which now includes astronaut Sandra Magnus, are nearly a day ahead of schedule with the renovations and upgrades planned during shuttle Endeavour's 11-day stay.

The first samples of urine are slated to run through the system on Thursday. NASA wants one gallon (four liters) of processed wastewater returned on the shuttle for analysis on Earth.

The system needs to be operating for 90 days before the station crew will be cleared to start drinking the processed water.

SLEEPING COMPARTMENTS

Astronauts on Wednesday also installed two small sleeping compartments in the space station's Harmony node. Two more berths are scheduled to be delivered on shuttle flights in July 2009 and February 2010.

Spacewalkers Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, Stephen Bowen and Shane Kimbrough prepared equipment for the second of four spacewalks scheduled for Endeavour's mission.

Stefanyshyn-Piper and Bowen completed the first outing on Tuesday, despite the loss of a bag of tools that floated off into space.

"That definitely was not the high point of the EVA (extravehicular activity) or spacewalk," Stefanyshyn-Piper said in an interview on Wednesday. "It was very disheartening to watch it float away."

The bag contained two grease guns and other equipment needed to clean and repair a joint in the station's truss that pivots solar wing panels so they can face the sun for power. NASA said the tools and bag were worth about $100,000.

Stefanyshyn-Piper borrowed tools from Bowen for Tuesday's work and will try to do Thursday's chores with wipes that have been pre-greased. If that doesn't work, she will share tools with Kimbrough, who will be making the second spacewalk with her.

Endeavour blasted off Friday for the 15-day mission. NASA late Tuesday said the shuttle's heat shield came through launch well and the ship was safe to return to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 29.

NASA plans nine more missions, including a servicing call to the Hubble Space Telescope, before the space shuttles are retired by September 30, 2010.

(Editing by Tom Brown and Vicki Allen)