It is the third leak at ISS in less than a year.
Sheri Walsh
Mon, October 9, 2023
A Russian laboratory module, called "Nauka," at the International Space Station has sprung a coolant leak. It is the third leak at ISS in less than a year.
Sheri Walsh
Mon, October 9, 2023
A Russian laboratory module, called "Nauka," at the International Space Station has sprung a coolant leak. It is the third leak at ISS in less than a year.
Photo courtesy of NASA
Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A Russian module on the International Space Station has sprung a coolant leak, the third leak at the ISS in less than a year as officials reassured Monday that the crew is not in danger.
The leak was reported Monday afternoon by Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to NASA space station crew member Jasmin Moghbeli, the commander of the SpaceX Crew-7 mission and current ISS flight engineer.
"We're seeing flakes outside. Need a crew to go to the cupola, look toward the aft side, we think windows five or six, and confirm any visual flakes," mission control instructed the crew.
"Yeah, there's a leak coming from the radiator on the MLM," Moghbeli replied, as she revealed the source of the leak.
The MLM is the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, also called "Nauka," which means science, that launched on a Russian Proton rocket in July 2021.
Moghbeli was then instructed to close the cupola shutters in the module to prevent its windows from becoming covered by the spilling coolant.
The U.S. side of the space station was also instructed to close its gym and lab shutters. ISS Commander and European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen confirmed to Mission Control, about 20 minutes later, that the shutters were closed.
According to a translated version of a message posted on social media after the leak was found, "The main thermal control circuit of the module operates normally and provides comfortable conditions in the living area of the module. The crew and the station are not in danger."
Monday's leak is the third leak to hit the Russian side of ISS in the past year.
In December, there was a leak from the rear of a docked Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, believed to have been caused by a small space rock. The space ship returned to Earth unmanned, forcing two Russians and an American to stay aboard ISS for a year before another vehicle safely returned them to Earth on Sept. 27.
In February, another leak was found in the Russian Progress MS-21 cargo ship, while it was docked at ISS.
The Russian space team Roscosmos has discounted concerns about a manufacturing flaw and concluded instead that the leaks were caused by micrometeoroids or orbital debris.
Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A Russian module on the International Space Station has sprung a coolant leak, the third leak at the ISS in less than a year as officials reassured Monday that the crew is not in danger.
The leak was reported Monday afternoon by Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to NASA space station crew member Jasmin Moghbeli, the commander of the SpaceX Crew-7 mission and current ISS flight engineer.
"We're seeing flakes outside. Need a crew to go to the cupola, look toward the aft side, we think windows five or six, and confirm any visual flakes," mission control instructed the crew.
"Yeah, there's a leak coming from the radiator on the MLM," Moghbeli replied, as she revealed the source of the leak.
The MLM is the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, also called "Nauka," which means science, that launched on a Russian Proton rocket in July 2021.
Moghbeli was then instructed to close the cupola shutters in the module to prevent its windows from becoming covered by the spilling coolant.
The U.S. side of the space station was also instructed to close its gym and lab shutters. ISS Commander and European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen confirmed to Mission Control, about 20 minutes later, that the shutters were closed.
According to a translated version of a message posted on social media after the leak was found, "The main thermal control circuit of the module operates normally and provides comfortable conditions in the living area of the module. The crew and the station are not in danger."
Monday's leak is the third leak to hit the Russian side of ISS in the past year.
In December, there was a leak from the rear of a docked Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, believed to have been caused by a small space rock. The space ship returned to Earth unmanned, forcing two Russians and an American to stay aboard ISS for a year before another vehicle safely returned them to Earth on Sept. 27.
In February, another leak was found in the Russian Progress MS-21 cargo ship, while it was docked at ISS.
The Russian space team Roscosmos has discounted concerns about a manufacturing flaw and concluded instead that the leaks were caused by micrometeoroids or orbital debris.
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