Space-station computer fails; crew safe

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA has ordered spacewalking repairs for a serious computer failure at the International Space Station.

A backup computer for some robotic systems failed Friday. The main computer is fine and the six-man crew is safe, but the malfunction puts this week’s supply run in jeopardy.

Mission managers agreed Saturday that a spacewalk is needed to replace the bad computer. But officials wanted one more day before deciding whether the situation is safe enough in orbit to proceed with Monday’s SpaceX launch as planned.

NASA promised to decide today whether to delay the delivery mission.

No date for the spacewalk has been set. Officials indicated it could occur sometime in the next week or so. The job is among those practiced by the astronauts before flight.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule holds more than 2 tons of station supplies and science experiments at Cape Canaveral. The shipment is already a month late for unrelated reasons.

If the Dragon soars Monday, it will reach the orbiting lab Wednesday.

NASA is paying the California-based SpaceX — Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — as well as Orbital Sciences Corp. of Virginia to deliver space station goods because NASA retired its space shuttles in 2011.