Air leak on the ISS forces oncoming astronauts to spend the weekend in the station’s Russian segment, while NASA fucks the source
- NASA astronauts identify a slight change in the air pressure of the space station cabin
- Because of space eruptions and operations, it took months to identify this as a leak
- To find the leak, the crew must close all hatches and check air pressure levels
- NASA and Roscosmos say this leak poses ‘no immediate danger’ to the crew
Three astronauts will spend the weekend in the Russian section of the International Space Station after a leak was discovered somewhere on board.
While in the Russian section the crew members will close all the hatches at the station – allowing experts on earth to check air pressure levels and find the source of the leak.
Commander Chris Cassidy and his crew members Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin will remain in Zvezda’s service module from Friday evening until Monday morning.
NASA and Roscosmos said the situation did not pose a direct danger to the crew or the space station, but that it was important to find the source.
Commander Chris Cassidy and his crew members Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin will remain in Zvezda’s service module from Friday evening until Monday morning
The atmosphere of the station is maintained at a level of pressure designed to be comfortable for the crew members – a little bit of that air leaks out over time.
The leaks are a part of life for the 22-year-old surrounding laboratory that is receiving routine pressure again thanks to nitrogen tanks supplied by cargo spacecraft.
“In September 2019, NASA and its international partners saw for the first time indications of a slight increase above the standard air leakage level of the cabin,” NASA said in a statement.
Due to routine station operations such as space weeks and arrivals and departures of space travel, it took time to realize what the measurement changes meant.
“The leak is still within segment specifications and presents no immediate danger to the crew as the space station,” said NASA and Roscosmos.
The test to find the source of the leak will involve ground personnel checking the air pressure levels over time – something that is not a risk to the crew.
The Zvezda module that will house the three crew members provides the living quarters that allowed permanent human habitation to begin nearly 20 years ago when the Expedition 1 crew arrived at the station on November 2, 2000.
Cassidy, Vagner, and Ivanishin will also have access to the Polish mini-research module and their Soyuz MS-16 crew for the duration of their stay.
A leak is not a new thing for the aging lab – it happens regularly including a controversial leak in 2018 that was suspected to be man-made.
The ISS has been under constant occupation by astronauts since November 2000, but due to structural fatigue must be shut down by 2030
Astronauts had to hurry to fix a hole that appeared in the outer wall of a Russian Soyuz capsule that had been docked with the station for three months.
The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, is investigating the hole and compiling a dossier on the incident, but reports say it will not disclose its findings.
This includes, it seems, its international collaborators on the ISS, including NASA.
Just days before their return to Earth, the cosmonauts held a gruesome space wall that took nearly eight hours to explore the hole, using knives and shovels on the side of the ISS.
NASA claimed that the astronauts on board were never in danger, but images and further investigation revealed that it was made from the inside.
The report on where this latest leak is should be known by the end of next week, according to NASA, which stated that once astronauts are found, they can be targeted to perform repairs to stop it from getting worse.
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