International Space Station leak may have been caused by micrometeorite strike

[steven36]

NASA and its Russian counterparts identified a tiny pressure leak on the International Space Station Wednesday, which may have been caused by a micrometeorite strike.

 

The International Space Station is seen in this view from the space shuttle Discovery after the undocking of the two spacecraft.

 

NASA and its Russian counterparts identified a tiny pressure leak on the International Space Station Wednesday, which may have been caused by a micrometeorite strike.

Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russian space agency Roscosmos told state news agency TASS that a “micro-fracture” was found in a side compartment of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft currently docked with the space station.

The fracture, he said, may be external damage and is believed to be the result of a micro-meteorite. The fracture caused a drop in pressure and an air leak on the station, according to Rogozin, who said that the problem has been resolved.

 

NASA said that flight controllers in Houston and Moscow spotted “a minute pressure leak” around 7 p.m. EDT Wednesday.

The crew aboard the International Space Station is conducting troubleshooting and repair work today after the discovery of a tiny leak last night traced to the Russian segment of the orbital complex. More... https://t.co/MbtYrlFuO0 pic.twitter.com/eAOa8tVadQ

— Intl. Space Station (@Space_Station) August 30, 2018

The space station crew is conducting troubleshooting and repair work on the leak, NASA explained in a blog post Thursday morning. "The leak has been isolated to a hole about two millimeters in diameter in the orbital compartment, or upper section, of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft attached to the Rassvet module of the Russian segment," the space agency explained. "This is a section of the Soyuz that does not return to Earth."

 

Once the hole was identified, crewmembers applied Kapton tape, which slowed the leak. "Flight controllers are working with the crew to develop a more comprehensive long-term repair," NASA added. "Once the patching is complete, additional leak checks will be performed. All station systems are stable, and the crew is in no danger as the work to develop a long-term repair continues."

 

NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos operate the orbiting space lab along with the European Space Agency, Japan’s JAXA and the Canadian Space Agency.

 

Six crew members are on the ISS, led by station Commander and NASA astronaut Drew Feustel. NASA Flight Engineers Ricky Arnold and Serena Auñón-Chancellor are also on the space station, along with Alexander Gerst of ESA and Oleg Artemyev and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos.

 

The six crew members gathered in the Russian segment of the station after they were notified of the leak, NASA said.

 

The space station, which has been continuously occupied since November 2000, has an internal pressurized volume equal that of a Boeing 747, according to NASA.

 

Source

[nir]

Astronauts use gauze, high-tech tape to plug hole on ISS

 

The hole had been causing air to leak from the station.

 

Using tape and a bit of epoxy-laced gauze, astronauts aboard the International Space Station have sealed a hole that had been causing a slow air leak from the station.

 

NASA said that the station's cabin pressure, which had declined since the leak was discovered Wednesday night, was holding steady after the repair and that the astronauts aboard were in no danger.

 

The hole, measuring about two millimeters (0.08 inch), was found in the upper section of a Soyuz spacecraft that is docked at the station. European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst reportedly plugged the hole with his finger before special tape was applied as a temporary patch. Then Russian astronaut Sergey Prokopyev completed the repair using epoxy on a bit of gauze.

 

NASA hasn't said what caused the hole. But retired astronaut Scott Kelly, who served as commander of the space station on three expeditions, said in a tweet that the leak seems to have been caused by a micrometeoroid impact.

 

"We’ve dodged a lot of bullets over the past 20 years," Kelly said. "There’s a lot of space junk up there."

 

he Russian space agency Roscosmos has convened a commission to determine the cause of the leak, NASA said.

 

The leak was detected Wednesday around 7 p.m. EDT by flight controllers in Houston and Moscow. After determining that the leak posed no immediate threat to the astronauts, the controllers chose not to wake the astronauts, who were asleep at the time. But the astronauts scrambled into action Thursday morning.

 

Six astronauts are currently aboard the station. In addition to Gerst and Prokopyev, they are NASA astronauts Drew Feustel, Ricky Arnold and Serena Auñón-Chancellor, and Russian astronaut Oleg Artemyev.

 

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