International Space Station Loses Some Power

Monday, February 12th 2007, 10:51 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Parts of the International Space Station lost power for much of Sunday, but the three-member crew wasn't at risk and everything was fixed by Monday morning, officials said.

A glitch in an electrical power switching unit at 1:03 a.m. EST Sunday shut down two communication systems, a gyroscope, some lights and heaters, but there were redundant communications and stabilization systems, NASA spokesman Rob Navias said.

The gyroscope was turned back on by late Sunday afternoon, and the final communication line was back on Monday morning, Navias said.

NASA is looking into the cause of the problem, which occurred while two American astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut were awake but on a day off, Navias said.

``The biggest net effect was one of inconvenience,'' he said.