On Saturday, Russian Space Agency controllers took one of the six batteries in the Zarya module offline after it showed reduced capacity to power the station.
"Everythings in nominal control," said James Van Laak, deputy to NASA's station operations manager. "It wasnt really a surprise to us, just an annoyance."
Van Laak added the station could operate normally on four of the six Russian-built batteries and three if needed.
Controllers had been tracking the problem batterys status since last week.
Van Laak said the Russian Space Agency asked NASA officials to take the battery offline Saturday when the station passed over U.S. ground stations.
Later, Russian controllers took the battery offline after NASA controllers experienced software problems in attempting to perform the task, he said. NASA and the Russian Space Agency share control of the space station based on its location over the Earth.
This was the first time NASA controllers have tried to take one of the Zaryas batteries offline, Van Laak said.
Plans on whether to attempt to recondition the battery or replace it have yet to be made, Van Laak said.
If needed, another battery could be carried to the station by the next space shuttle mission slated for December.
NASA and the Russian Space Agency have been fixing small problems since Zarya was boosted into orbit by a Russian Proton in November 1998.
The Zarya module is the main building block of the International Space Station and provides propulsion, steering and communication for the space station. The module is 41.2 feet long and 13.5 feet wide at its widest point
NASA spokesman Kyle Herring characterized the problems as small and "not life threatening or mission threatening." He likened the problems aboard Zarya as comparable to buying a new car and discovering small things wrong with it.
Other problems have included higher than normal levels of carbon dioxide in Zarya, which may have made some of space shuttle Discoverys astronauts sick while working in the module during their mission in late May through early June.
An antenna on the Unity module also remains jammed and will be fixed on a future shuttle flight.
Discoverys crew also replaced 18 voltage regulators for the six batteries aboard Zarya.
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