Contact regained with space station

19 February 2013 Last updated at 15:36 ET

Nasa ground controllers have re-established contact with the International Space Station less than three hours after a computer failure briefly interrupted communication.

Flight controllers in Houston were updating software on the ISS when one of its data relay systems broke down.

The ISS had been able to make contact intermittently via Russian stations.

Nasa normally speaks and sends data to the station from Houston, via three communications satellites.

Interruptions in both communication and control have happened a few times in the past, the space agency said.

The primary computer that controls critical station functions defaulted to a backup computer, but it was not letting the station communicate with Nasa's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, the US space agency said.

The problem occurred at about 09:45 EST (14:45 GMT).

The ISS marked its 10th anniversary of continuous human occupation on 2 November 2010. Since Expedition 1 in 2000, the space station has been visited by 204 astronauts.

The current crew is made up six men: two Americans, three Russians and a Canadian.

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Contact regained with space station