Station crew: Housing stranded shuttle crew would be stressful
 |  ISS commander Sergei Krikalev |
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|  VIDEO |
 Space station crew: Housing stranded shuttle crew would be difficult.
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(CNN) -- A day after a blue-ribbon panel endorsed a plan to house shuttle astronauts aboard the international space station in the event of an emergency, the station's flight engineer, John Phillips, acknowledged Thursday that any attempt to carry out such a plan would prove difficult.
NASA chartered the independent panel to oversee the space agency's "return to flight" effort. The space shuttles have been grounded since February 1 2003, when the Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
"We know it would stress our resources in a lot of things: food, water, living space, toilet, a lot of different resources," said Phillips. "We also know that our management is not taking this likely, and it really only is being used as a resort in case of damage to the shuttle. It's not something we are going to go into lightly."
Phillips and station commander Sergei Krikalev spoke Thursday to CNN from the international space station in orbit.
The "safe haven" contingency calls for the station to provide shelter to a shuttle crew in the event an orbiter is damaged upon liftoff and cannot safely re-enter Earth's atmosphere. In such a scenario, up to 10 people would live aboard the station for six to eight weeks while another orbiter was prepared to undertake a rescue mission.
Consumables are an issue on the space station since the shuttle was its main resupply ship.
Also, the station's main oxygen generator, which had been malfunctioning for months, recently broke down completely.
The international space station and the Russian Soyuz capsule, which serves as the station's "life boat," carry a limited supply of bottled oxygen. Every day, crew members are burning two "oxygen candles" -- canisters of oxygen perchlorate, which, when ignited, generate oxygen.
If all goes as scheduled, the orbiting space station next month will play host to the crew of the shuttle Discovery.
Discovery astronauts Steve Robinson and Soichi Noguchi plan to conduct three spacewalks outside the station and replace a gyroscope to ensure the station continues to fly in a stable, wobble-free configuration.
Krikalev and Phillips began their six-month tour of duty in April, and are slated to return to Earth in October.
In August, Krikalev is expected to exceed the record 748 days in space currently held by fellow cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev.
Krikalev served two long-duration stays aboard the Russian Mir Space Station, and is serving his second assignment aboard the international space station.
In 2000, he was the fight engineer on the first crew to serve aboard the station.
"I never was trying to break this record," he said. "It's just a result of doing my job, and I like this job."
