It's not the water treatment plant that NASA had hoped for but astronauts on the international space station are confident that they can make some simple fixes to reclamation system so that body fluids can be turned to drinking water soon. 

The astronauts have been working for the past three days to get the system running so that it can generate samples for testing back on Earth. The system is running for just two hours before shutting down.  The astronauts managed to coax a urine sample through the system Saturday by running the unite for an hour and 45 minutes at a time.

Today they will change the way a centrifuge is mounted in the $250 to fix the problem.

The recycling system is required to be working before NASA can boost station crew size from three to six next May

Mission managers have decided not to extend the mission by an extra day because the astronauts have collected enough water samples for testing. Endeavour is scheduled to leave the station on Thanksgiving Day.

Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Stephen Bowen wound up an exhausting nearly seven hour spacewalk, lubricating gear rings and swapping out five of six bearing assemblies on a malfunctioning mechanical joint that keeps solar panels facing the sun.

They nearly finished the job to fix the gummed up joint, but were told to call it day with one bearing assembly still needing to be replaced. "I know it's painful to call it quits like that, but we think it's the right thing to do," NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston told the pair.

The last assembly will be taken care of on Monday during the mission's fourth and final spacewalk, which is also scheduled to grease the another solar rotary joint on the port side of the station.

Meanwhile, inside the station, the brand new $250 million water treatment system has broken down for the third day in a row. It's supposed to turn urine into drinking water and is vital for expanding the space station's capacity from three full-time crewmembers to six. There's apparently something wrong with the motor.

The trouble could delay space shuttle Endeavour's departure, now scheduled for Thanksgiving day, by 24 hours to give the crew more time to fix the problem so they can collect samples from the recycler for testing back on Earth.

Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Steve Bowen would not do well in the moving business, where workers generally get paid by the hour (but sometimes give you about 45 minutes of work). The two spacewalkers are about 30 minutes ahead of schedule in their seven-hour maintenance mission outside the International Space Station.

"You guys are doing great, thanks for keeping us well-informed," came the call from back on Earth.   

As noted by NASA at about 3 pm: "They continue to clean and lubricate the International Space Station starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint race ring and replace trundle bearing assemblies. They are scheduled to replace six of the trundle bearing assemblies today, and are about 30 minutes ahead of their timeline."

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are moving about an hour ahead of schedule as they prepare for a third spacewalk this mission. On today's agenda: "cleaning and lubricating the International Space Station's starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint race ring and replacing trundle bearing assemblies," according to NASA.

It'll be the fifth spacewalk for Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper; the second for Steve Bowen.

By MARCIA DUNN

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's revolutionary new space water recycling system is having serious hiccups. The $154 million device for turning astronauts' urine and sweat into drinking water aboard the international space station shut down again Friday, and engineers on the ground were scrambling to figure out what was wrong.

The astronauts and flight controllers are up against the clock: NASA wants samples of the processed urine before space shuttle Endeavour pulls away from the space station late next week. The recycled water needs to be tested back on Earth before anyone up there can drink it and NASA commits to doubling the size of the space station crew next year.

No one was surprised by the startup trouble. Space station commander Mike Fincke said it's common for things to go wrong in a flight test and stressed that he wasn't worried — so far. Nor was he concerned about eventually drinking the final product.

"It's just the water that's taken out," Fincke said during a news conference. "It's really clean and purified water. In fact, it's probably more pure than most people's tap water. So I'm not afraid to drink it."

Of all the home-improvement gear delivered to the space station by Endeavour, the water recycling system has drawn the most attention. NASA sees it as the future in deep-space exploration — and also to future life on the home planet.

WASHINGTON -- The simple answer, according to NASA, is that  space tools need to survive the intense rigors of space -- even items that like a grease gun that run about $25 if you order it from Sears.

The issue came up this week after NASA astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper lost a tool bag worth an estimated $100,000 on Tuesday during her attempt to fix a damaged space station rotary joint. The bag -- filled with scrappers, grease guns and wipes -- floated away while she was distracted trying to handle grease from an "exploded" gun (earlier post here).

NASA officials said  Friday that they could not give an itemized cost to every tool lost in the mishap, although they did identify everything that was lost (see below).

As for the high price tag?

"No, it doesn't include the cost to get it to space. Some of the equipment is 'off the shelf,' but some of it is specialized hardware that had to be fabricated, qualified for the tasks and certified for use in the vacuum of space, where temperatures swing between 200 degrees F and minus 200 degrees F," wrote NASA spokesman Mike Curie.

What floated away:

"The cost included the EVA crew lock bag itself, four retractable tethers, two adjustable equipment tethers, a grease gun with a straight nozzle, two wire ties, a grease gun with a J-hook nozzle, an EVA wipe caddy, six EVA wipes (two wet, four dry), a scraper debris container, a SARJ scraper and a large trash bag."

Astronauts Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Shane Kimbrough completed the second spacewalk of space shuttle Endeavour's mission to the International Space Station at 7:43 p.m. EST without incident.

"Outstanding job," said commander Christopher Ferguson at the conclusion of the six hour and 45 minute excursion during which the astronauts moved two equipment transportation carts on the station's truss, lubricated a snare on the station's robotic arm so it can grab a Japanese cargo container next year, and spent more time greasing a malfunctioning mechanical joint that keeps the station's solar panels facing the sun.

Toward the end the spacewalk, Piper, who lost a $100,000 tool kit during her first spacewalk on Tuesday, was especially careful to make sure she had all her tools properly secured before heading back to the airlock. "Hopefully, I won't lose anything on the way," she said. "I think everything's tethered, so it's just a matter of what's going to stay in the bag."

The lost bag contained two specially designed grease guns to lubrication the giant cranky joint.
Working around the loss, Piper tested an alternative approach, using grease-impregnated wipes to lubricate the damaged joint. After a few dabs she declared that the new method worked just as well as the lost grease guns. The wipe is a terrycloth mitt coated with a non-flammable robust grease called Braycote.

"I think both methods are comparable," Piper concluded.

"You're ‘go’ to use the wet wipe method for the remainder of the [spacewalk],"  mission control in Houston announced.

"OK, great," Piper replied.

This was the 116th space station spacewalk to construct the station, marking its 10th birthday. It was Kimbrough's first spacewalk and veteran Piper's fourth.

NASA on Thursday successfully test fired an emergency escape rocket for its Orion capsule, the agency's next generation crewed space ship that will return astronauts to the moon. It was the first test of its kind since the beginning of the Apollo program in the 1960's.

According to a NASA press release, "flames shot more than 100 feet high" during the 5.5 second test at a facility in Promontory, Utah, belonging to Alliant Techsystems, or ATK. ATK is the subcontractor responsible for the launch abort motor within NASA's Orion Project.

Orion's launch abort motor has the same mission as Apollo's -- to whisk the capsule and its crew to safety in an emergency on the launch pad or upon lift off.

"This milestone brings the Constellation Program one step closer to completion of the Orion vehicle that will carry astronauts to the International Space Station in 2015 and return humans to the moon by
2020," said Mark Geyer, Orion project manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The test generated more than a half-million pounds of thrust. It was designed to gather data on the solid rocket motor, its casings, thrust flow and propellant makeup for the lifeboat rocket that will be perched atop the Orion capsule.

Orion's abort system is similar to the Mercury and Apollo escape towers, but incorporates modern technology in a more robust design. It uses a composite case and an exhaust "turn-flow technology" instead of a tower, which makes it lighter and safer.

Instead of the rocket plume exiting a rear nozzle, the manifold is placed at the forward end of the motor. The rocket thrust enters the manifold and is turned 155 degrees and forced out the four nozzles, creating a forward-pulling force.

Check out this NASA close up video. Here's another from the viewing area. Very cool.

WASHINGTON -- A probe orbiting Mars has found evidence of water ice farther from the poles  than what scientists have expected. The findings by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter could make the Red Planet easier to inhabit years from now, said one expert who took the lead in writing a report on the discovery.

"Altogether, these glaciers almost certainly represent the largest reservoir of water ice on Mars that is not in the polar caps," said John W. Holt of the University of Texas at Austin, who is lead author of the report. "Just one of the features we examined is three times larger than the city of Los Angeles and up to half a mile thick. And there are many more. In addition to their scientific value, they could be a source of water to support future exploration of Mars."

A full NASA briefing is after the jump.

Astronauts Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper and Robert "Shane" Kimbrough stepped outside the Quest airlock just before 1:00 P.M. EST on Thursday, starting the second spacewalk of their mission to the international space station.

During their six-and-a-half-hour excursion into the vacuum of space, the two astronauts will do some work on station's robot arm, and continue cleaning and lubricating a damaged mechanical joint –- all the while making sure they keep a firm grip on their tools.

Piper lost a $100,000 tool bag during the first spacewalk on Tuesday as she was trying to clean up grease that had oozed out of a grease gun in the backpack-size bag. She was wiping off the dark lubricant and had put the bag down for a moment only to realize too late that it was not tethered.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Piper, clearly smarting from the incident, admitted that she had made a mistake by not checking to see if the sack was properly tied when the tote and everything in it floated away. The bag was one of the largest items ever lost by a spacewalking astronaut. Inside the sack were two high-tech grease guns, for which there were no spares.

"You're not going to see us lose another bag. We're going to double- and triple-check everything from here on out," Piper promised.

As a result of the mishap, Piper and Kimbrough will share the remaining single set of tools cleaning and lubricating the right-side solar alpha rotary joint. The joint is supposed to rotate solar wings so they face the sun, but the joint has been grinding and malfunctioning for over a year. The spacewalkers will also try to do some lubrication without the grease guns, using "wet" terrycloth mitts covered with a layer of Braycote lubricant, which is non-flammable and robust for use in space.

Piper and her colleague on the first spacewalk, Steve Bowen, shared their tools Tuesday after the tool bag was lost.  They got their work done ahead of schedule.

Today's spacewalk, the 116th since in the history of the complex, comes on the 10th anniversary of the launch of the Russian-built, U.S.-funded Zarya module that marked the beginning of the assembly of the space station. Since then, the orbiting complex has grown to the size of nearly a football field and has the interior room of a three-bedroom house.

"Even from 40 miles away, you can tell the beauty and the grandeur and the enormity of this vehicle," Endeavour commander Christopher Ferguson said in a pre-taped anniversary message. "As you get closer, it only gets larger. Post-docking, when we were able to come inside and explore the expanse of the vehicle, it's overwhelming, the size and the enormity of this ship in space."

In a press release for the anniversary, station commander Mike Finke said: "With the International Space Station, we have learned so many things -- and we're going to take that knowledge and apply it to flying to the moon and Mars."