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Space Station Crew Discover Mysterious Stain By Oxygen Regeneration Valve

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 January 2005, 12:00 CST

Text of report by Russian news agency RIA

Moscow, 26 January: During the spacewalk, cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov discovered a black coating, similar to spilt lubricating oil, on the exhaust valve of the ISS's [International Space Station] Elektron oxygen regeneration system.

The cosmonaut reported this to ground control, a RIA-Novosti correspondent reports from Mission Control Centre (MCC).

Sharipov was instructed to photograph the stain and not to touch it under any circumstances.

Sharipov reported that a stain of about 15 cm had formed around the valve. "The spot is damp, either oil or a liquid, spreading for 15 cm around the valve, and extending as a black coating towards the other valve," the flight engineer of the 10th ISS mission reported.

According to an MCC spokesman, the stain does not pose any threat to the Elektron oxygen regeneration system. However, MCC specialists will definitely study photographs of the coating taken by Sharipov during the spacewalk once they are received.

Various faults have occurred in the Elektron system from time to time, but the crew managed to fix them quickly.

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

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