Air and water

A vital role of Europe’s Service Module for the Orion spacecraft is providing air and water for the astronauts in the crew module.

With astronauts needing up to three litres of water and almost a kilogram of oxygen a day, the tanks are sized to allow for long missions.

Four water tanks hold 240 litres pumped to the capsule as needed.

Air for breathing is stored as separate gases, with one tank holding 30 kg of nitrogen and three tanks of oxygen totalling 90 kg. The oxygen and nitrogen are mixed into the capsule for the astronauts to breathe.