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Space-faring crews must have safe breathing air throughout their missions to ensure adequate performance and good health. Toxicological assessment of air quality depends on the standards that define acceptable air quality, measurements of pollutant levels during the flight, and reports from the crew on their in-flight perceptions of air quality. Air samples from ISS flights 2A.2a, 2A.2b, 3A, and 4A were analyzed for trace pollutants. On average the air during each flight was safe for human respiration. However, there were reports from the crew that they experienced a headache when in certain areas, and strong odors were reported from specific locations of the ISS complex. Inspection of air samples in these locations suggested that several of the solvent-type pollutants (e.g. ethyl acetate, xylenes, and n-butanol) were present in concentrations that would cause a strong odor to be perceived by some individuals.

Space-faring crews must have safe breathing air throughout their missions to ensure adequate performance and good health. Toxicological assessment of air quality depends on applicable air-quality standards, measurements of pollutant concentrations, and crew reports of air quality. Samples of air were obtained during ingress and egress of the Zarya and Unity modules on missions 2A and 2A.1. The results from 2A suggest that trace pollutants were at safe levels and that there was good air exchange between the modules. Results from the 2A.1 flight also showed that trace pollutants were at acceptable concentrations; however, there was evidence of inadequate mixing between the modules during the hatch-open operations. Furthermore, the 2A.1 crew reported after the flight that the air quality seemed to cause symptoms during their operations in Zarya, particularly when more than one crewmember was working inside open panels for some time.