MOSCOW, AUGUST 21 / TASS /. The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) has gathered in the Russian segment and the shutters have been closed following an air leak discovered aboard the orbital outpost, a spokesman for the Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Friday.
“The gates of the U.S. segment and between the U.S. and Russian segments are closed,” the spokesman said, adding that the crew will remain in the Russian segment until Monday night. Together with mission control center specialists, they will monitor air pressure in the enclosed modules to spot the possible site of air leakage.
“The results of these works will be discussed with the partners on Monday in the first half of the day and thereafter a further plan of action will be decided,” the spokesman said.
Earlier, the brochures of the Russian module MIM-1, the Russian module SO-1 (Pirs) and the dock of the Progress MS-15 were offered again. According to Roscosmos, “data received from the ISS crew, which monitors the pressure levels in the modules, indicates that the pressure remains normal.”
Air leak on ISS
A source told TASS on August 20 that the Russian-American crew on the ISS followed a discovered air leak. As the source said, “the air leak was detected by the sensors of the Russian segment of the station to measure the content of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the station.”
The crew members planned to seal sequences from the station modules to locate the area where the pressure failed.
Roscosmos told TASS that all ISS crew members would move to the Zvezda service module three days later to organize air pressure monitoring in the U.S. segment modules. As Roscosmos points out, “during the three-day stay in the Russian segment, the crew will perform routine work.”
The ISS crew includes NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner.
