MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. The Elektron-VM oxygen supply system installed in the Russian section of the International Space Station (ISS) had to be deactivated due to a malfunction, a spokesperson for Russia’s Roscosmos State Space Corporation told TASS on Wednesday.

"After the Elektron-VM system was deactivated, the crew, guided by the main operational group, dismantled it in order to detect faults. Oxygen will be generated by a backup system located in the US section until repairs are completed," the spokesperson said.

According to Roscosmos, there is no danger to the crew and the space station itself. Russian cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov reported issues with the Elektron-VM system to the Russian Flight Control Center on Wednesday.

This is not the first time that the Russian oxygen supply system has gone out of order. The ISS crew already had to restore the system last week. In April 2010, it took the crew several days to fix a fault in the system.

The Elektron-VM oxygen supply system, developed by Russia’s Research and Design Institute of Chemical Machine-Building, has been operational aboard the International Space Station since its creation. The system is capable of generating 25-160 liters of oxygen per hour and additionally 50-320 liters of hydrogen per hour. The space station has oxygen supplies and the US module Tranquility has its own oxygen generation equipment.