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WASHINGTON, Feb. 28NASA is interacting with the Russian side in connection with a previously identified leak of an unknown nature on the International Space Station (ISS), there is no threat to the crew, Joel Montalbano, head of the ISS program at NASA, said at a briefing on Wednesday.
«We are monitoring the rate of the leak <…>, the hatch leading to the leak site is now sealed, <…> we are working with Russian colleagues on the next steps,» a NASA spokesman said. According to him, the situation “does not pose a threat to the safety of the crew or the operation of the station.” He clarified that the leak, he did not specify what exactly, is located “in the aft part of the Russian service module,” where Russian Progress cargo ships dock. The compartment, less than a meter long, is currently sealed and the leak in it does not affect the remaining modules of the station, NASA assured. «There were already leaks there, we were repairing cracks there,» a NASA spokesman said.
Meanwhile, he reported that “a week before the launch and docking” of the Russian Progress cargo ship with the ISS (arrived at the ISS on February 17 — ed.), experts noticed an “increase in the rate of leakage.” «We are monitoring her condition,» he said.
In December, the Roscosmos press service reported that Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are regularly searching for possible locations of air leaks from the Russian segment, and the resulting data is being transmitted for analysis specialists on Earth.
Earlier in October, Roscosmos reported a leak of a different kind — a coolant leak occurred from the external (backup) circuit of the radiator of the multipurpose laboratory module «Nauka». It was clarified that the main thermal control circuit of the module operates normally, providing comfortable conditions in the living area. Roscosmos emphasized that the crew and the station are not in danger.
As Roscosmos executive director Sergei Krikalev later explained, the leak occurred from the reserve circuit of the additional radiator on the Nauka module, delivered back in 2012. The circuit worked alternately with the main one and was not active at the time of the leak.
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