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After being adopted for use on the ISS, it had the NASA name '''SFOG''', but they also sometimes use the Russian acronym TGK.<ref name=ellis/>
Vika was used on Mir when more than three people were on board.<ref name=david>[http://books.google.com/books?id=FUtZwjleT3kC&pg=PA270&lpg=PA270&dq=Vika+oxygen&source=bl&ots=c1ojtq99y3&sig=hduoB3ZcMFuPLPh4EWPy1hiWq-0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xATsTpL5K4Xhtgfi0IimCg&ved=0CFkQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=Vika%20oxygen&f=false David Michael Harland - '''The story of the space shuttle''' (2004) - Page 270] (Google Books link)</ref> Vika needs a supply of canisters to work, which must be flown into space.<ref name=david/> An example of this is [[Progress M-34]], which carried 60 canisters to Mir in 1997 along with other cargo.<ref name=david/> If ''Vika'' and ''Elektron'' stopped working the station would have to rely on a limited supply of bottled oxygen.<ref name=david/>
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In February 1997 a Vika chemical oxygen generator failed on Mir, it caught fire and spewed a torch-like jet of a molten metal and sparks across one of the [[Mir]] [[space station]] modules, burning for around 14 minutes and blocking the escape route to the docked [[Soyuz spacecraft]].<ref name=ellis/> The fire was eventually put out and the crew survived.<ref name=ellis/> A definitive cause to the accident was not determined because the fire destroyed the device.<ref name=ellis/> Despite this incident, NASA decided it was still the best supplemental oxygen system available and supported its use on the then upcoming ISS.<ref name=ellis/> However the U.S. and Russia worked together to improve the safety of the system before using it on the new space station.<ref name=ellis/>
A backup to the temperamental Elektron system used on both the ISS and ''Mir'' is the ''Vika'' solid-fuel oxygen generator (SFOG), which contains a replaceable cartridge, a thin walled steel tube with a three-part block of oxygen-releasing mixture based on [[lithium perchlorate]]. Two parts are tablets of the chemical mixture and the third one is the igniter tablet with a flash igniter. The igniter is struck by a firing pin when the device is activated. One cartridge releases {{convert|600|l|USgal}} of oxygen and burns for 5–20 minutes at {{convert|450|-|500|C|F}}<ref>[http://www.molecularproducts.com/products_detail.php?id=2 Oxygen Generators]</ref> The oxygen is cooled and filtered from dust and odours, and released into the space station atmosphere.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}}
{{see also|ISS ECLSS}}
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