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KOsmonauts are fighting on the Russian part of the International Space Station due to a leak with problems with the air supply. Space travelers would now have to find the leak because oxygen reserves were getting smaller and smaller, the state agency Tass reported after switching between the ISS and the control center in Moscow. It is not clear where exactly the leak is in a transition to the “Zvezda” (“star”) module, said an expert on Earth. The problem with air leaks and pressure drop in the module has existed since August.
Time was running out, the problem had to be solved, he said at the flight control center. Cosmonaut Sergei Ryschkow on the ISS said that air was leaking from a transition to the “Zvezda” module. It is not clear where exactly. Now it is being discussed to hermetically seal the part so as not to jeopardize the air supply. That will affect work on the ISS, he said.
The tea bag could not solve the problem
“Everything is under control,” the head of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, Dmitri Rogozin, said on Saturday. “There are still reservations,” he said. In February, a new “Progress” space freighter with oxygen supplies will also fly into space. If additional oxygen needed to be supplied to the ISS, NASA’s US partners could supply oxygen with their own unmanned transporter.
As early as October, the crew believed they had found the crack in a transitional part of the “Zvezda” module. At that time, the space travelers had used a tea bag that was moving weightlessly towards the escape. The opening, about 4.5 centimeters long, was covered. The cause of the leak was unclear. Later it turned out that more air was leaking. Even an open-air mission in space did not bring more clarity in November.
Where is the hole? Russian cosmologists have been searching for months.
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Image: dpa
Roskosmos had always emphasized that there was no imminent danger to the ISS crew. Space chief Rogozin said there was constant contact with the crew. According to his representation, small meteorites could act on the body of the station and accelerate the “fatigue processes” of the metal. Some of the modules that were still produced in the Soviet era, some 30 years ago, were only intended to be used for 15 years.
Old age of the space station?
The station now warns them: “It is time for me to retire,” said Rogozin. The wounds would continue to “heal”; But the end is near Therefore, a new outpost of humanity is now being considered. Rogozin said that the ISS will safely hold out until 2024, perhaps until 2028.
On the 20+ year old space station, breakdowns happen over and over again. Recently there have also been problems with the power supply and the toilet system. There are currently seven astronauts at the station about 400 kilometers above the ground: two Russians, four Americans, and one Japanese.
