Life support system that recycles breathable air is being installed on the ISS

Oxygen on-board future space missions will be made from the recycled breath of astronauts. The Advanced Closed Loop System (ACLS) has been built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and is now being installed on-board the orbiting spacecraft. The apparatus recycles half the carbon dioxide (CO2) exhaled by astronauts and converts it into oxygen. Scientists have heralded the invention as an important step towards long-term missions to mars and beyond. ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst poses with the ACLS life-support rack, newly installed on the International Space Station.