International Space Station (ISS) Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) System Overview of Events: 2014 - 2015

Nov 2, 2015 marked the completion of the 15th year of continuous human presence in space on board the International Space Station (ISS). After 42 expedition crews, over 115 assembly & utilization flights, over 180 combined Shuttle/Station, US & Russian EVAs, the post-Assembly Complete ISS continues to fly and the engineering teams continue to learn from operating its systems, particularly the life support equipment. Problems with initial launch, assembly and activation of ISS elements have given way to more long term system operating trends. New issues continue to emerge. Major events and challenges for each U.S. ECLS subsystem occurring during the last year are summarily discussed in this paper, along with look aheads for what might be coming in the future for each U.S. ECLS subsystem.