The cosmonauts told that the air leak from the Russian module “Zvezda” of the International Space Station (ISS) could not be eliminated. This is reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the astronauts' negotiations with the Earth, which are broadcast by NASA.
Russian cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov on Sunday night closed the hatch to the intermediate chamber of the segment, where the leak was recorded, in order to check its tightness. However, after re-opening it, it was found that the pressure in the compartment continues to drop, which means that the leak persists.
The last time the leak was detected on the ISS on December 19. Then the situation was complicated by the fact that the oxygen supply to replenish the air loss at the station was coming to an end.
In September, a leak was recorded on the Zvezda module of the ISS Russian segment, which, according to Roscosmos, provided a total drop in atmospheric pressure at the station at the level of 1 millimeter of mercury in eight hours. It took more than a month to find and eliminate it.
Later in the Russian segment, the toilet, vacuum cleaner and the Electron-VM oxygen production system broke down.
Russian cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov, American astronauts Kathleen Rubins, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, and Japanese Soichi Noguchi are currently working on the ISS.
