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One of the goals of the ICES conference is to highlight developments in Life Support Systems. Furthermore this paper addresses the requirement of the necessity of a development rather than its results In the early days of space flight a life support system had to supply the astronaut with breathable air at an acceptable temperature. In the era of Apollo missions nutrition and waste management were added. Until now physical/chemical Life Support Systems (LSS) are the baseline of all existing LSS in space. These apparatuses are able to keep a person in acceptable bodily health even for many months in flight. The issue of mental health of humans on long duration flights has become even more important since the Mir space station allowed such flights. The mental stress is reduced by psychological help from the ground crew. For longer flights, to Moon and Mars, spacecraft based methods are needed. Sources of help well known to all of us are music, pictures, videos and food.

A Paramagnetic Oxygen Partial Pressure Sensor (ParaO) has been awarded to be part of the Environment Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) of the European Space Station Columbus. Therefore a development programme has been released, facing the delivery of fully space-qualified flying hardware. The sensor utilizes the paramagnetic effect of oxygen. Cross sensitivities to other gases are negligible. The sensor is able to withstand space vacuum. A Development Model with the main outlines equivalent to the flying hardware has been successfully put into operation.