A source in the rocket and space industry revealed to RIA Novosti the size of the crack in the Zvezda module of the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS).
According to him, the analysis of the images showed that the crack reaches two to four centimeters in length. “Cosmonaut [Sergei] Ryzhikov temporarily sealed it with Kapton tape,” the source said.
Roskosmos told the agency that a “program of action is being prepared to permanently seal the leak.”
On October 15, cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin announced the discovery of an air leak in the transition compartment of the Zvezda module of the ISS Russian segment using a tea bag.
On October 1, ISS Russian Segment Flight Director Vladimir Soloviev assessed the air leak from the Zvezda module as “insanely small.”
The leak at the Zvezda module, according to Roskosmos, provided a total atmospheric pressure drop on the ISS at the level of 1 millimeter of mercury in 8 hours.
At the end of September, it was reported that the leak rate had grown to 1.4 kilograms per day, which required re-isolation of the crew.
At the end of August 2018, Dmitry Rogozin, General Director of Roscosmos, spoke about an air leak from the Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz docked to the ISS, the source of which was a drilled hole with a diameter of 1.5 millimeters. The manager stressed that the hole in question had been sealed with Kapton tape.
