US and Russian flight controllers partially restored critical computers aboard the International Space Station on Thursday after a system crash that could have forced the $100 billion orbital outpost's crew back to Earth.
The US space agency NASA also made plans to keep the visiting space shuttle Atlantis attached to the station for an additional day to help steer the massive complex if the computers, which control navigation, remain a problem.
Flight directors told the crew to cut power to non-critical equipment, such as lighting, to conserve electricity and fuel in case the shuttle's mission to the space station is extended.
"We're just trying to buy some margin for an extra docked day," astronaut Shane Kimbrough from Mission Control in Houston radioed to the crew. In a worst-case scenario, the computer woes could have forced the three astronauts aboard the space station, including NASA's newly arrived Clayton Anderson, to leave the outpost in the station's escape ship, a Russian Soyuz capsule.
As a precaution, the Soyuz was put on battery power on Wednesday for seven hours before the two Russian computers were successfully rebooted early on Thursday, allowing the capsule to be returned to station power.
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