International Space Station's computers that control the station's orientation and supply of oxygen and water have failed, potentially extending the space shuttle's mission or cutting it short, NASA reported on Thursday.

It is still unknown why the computers, which were made in Russia, stopped working. A failure of this type has never occurred before on the space station.

"We have plenty of resources, so we have plenty of time to sort this out," said Mike Suffredini, NASA manager of the space station program.

The computer failure could extend space shuttle Atlantis' mission by at least a day and, in a worst-case scenario, force the space station's three crewmembers to return to Earth earlier that planned if the computers are not fixed on time.

Atlantis' mission had already been extended from 11 to 13 days so that astronauts can go on a spacewalk to repair a thermal blanket covering an engine pod that peeled up during launch.

A power source may have triggered the computers' failure, Russian engineers believe.

Earlier in the week, Mission Specialists Jim Reilly and John Olivas successfully completed tasks during STS-117's first spacewalk to activate the ISS's newest component.

Reilly and Olivas went to work after the Starboard 3 and 4 truss segment was installed onto the station. They made power, data and cooling connections between the station and the S3/S4. The astronauts also released locks and launch restraints on the segment's solar arrays and prepared its radiator and rotary joint for operation.

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