Russia’s house company stated on Monday that its multipurpose Nauka module hooked up to the International Space Station suffered a leak of a backup cooling system used to manage onboard temperatures for astronauts.
The crew and the station “are not in danger” as astronauts assess the leak, Roscosmos, the Russian house company, stated in an announcement posted on Telegram.
It’s the newest such leak the Russians have needed to cope with in house not too long ago, following one which sprang on a Soyuz crew capsule late final yr, forcing the spacecraft’s substitute and a delayed journey house for its crew. A Russian Progress cargo spacecraft leaked coolant months later.
NASA, which manages the ISS with Russia, didn’t instantly return a request for remark.
Around 1 p.m. ET (1700 GMT), an official at NASA’s mission management middle in Houston instructed one among station’s U.S. astronauts to go to the cupola, a dome-like set of home windows overlooking house, to search for what floor groups had detected as “flakes” exterior the station, in accordance with mission management audio.
“There’s a leak coming from the radiator on MLM,” replied NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, referring to the Nauka module on the station’s Russian section.
Coolant that leaked from Russia’s Soyuz-22 capsule in December appeared on dwell video feeds as flaky, snow-like particles spewing into house from the craft’s radiator. A NASA engineering group believes a bit of house particles or a tiny meteorite was accountable, following a monthslong investigation with the Russians.
Moghbeli and astronauts from Denmark, Russia and Japan arrived on the station in August aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. American Loral O’Hara and Russians Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub arrived by way of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft final month.
The station, a soccer field-sized orbital science laboratory some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, has constantly housed worldwide crews of astronauts for greater than 20 years.
With the U.S. in command of the station’s energy grid and Russia largely accountable for engines that allow orbital maneuvers, the interdependency aboard the laboratory represents one of many few remaining cooperative ties between the 2 international locations following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine final yr.
The station’s construction has aged since housing its first crew in 2000 and NASA is making ready for its retirement round 2030 by funding early growth of privately constructed successors, because the company prioritizes returning people to the moon. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
