NASA restores communication with International Space Station

NASA restored communication with the International Space Station on Tuesday after connections went dark following a routine computer software update.

Before the fix, the space agency said the craft was able to communicate only every 90 minutes when it passed over ground stations in Russia.

"This is the same way they used to do it in the 1960s, with Gemini and Apollo," NASA spokesman Josh Byerly said.

The station, which is carrying two American astronauts, three Russian cosmonauts and a Canadian astronaut, did not appear to be in danger.

"It's not a panicked mood that takes over mission control," Byerly said before communications were fixed. "Anybody's who's been here has seen that."

Aboard the station, Commander Kevin Ford told mission control during a pass over a Russian ground station that the craft was "still flying straight" and that everybody was "in good shape."

The loss in communications was not considered unprecedented, though it was thought to be a cause for concern, officials said.

The station is the product of a partnership among 16 nations and carries six laboratories for space research.