International Space Station Crew Reassured on Leak
By MARCIA DUNN
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Flight controllers assured the two men aboard the international space station on Tuesday that they are trying to chase down the source of a slow loss of air pressure and said the problem could take weeks to solve.
American and Russian space officials stressed there is no immediate danger to the crewmen or the operation of the orbiting outpost. If the pressure were to fall dangerously low, astronaut Michael Foale and cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri could abandon the space station in the docked capsule and quickly return to Earth.
“But the situation has become significant enough … that a thorough investigation is under way and will continue over the next days and perhaps weeks,” said Mission Control in Houston.
Foale and Kaleri spent a second day looking for the potential leak. They used an ultrasound leak detector to check valves throughout the complex, but found nothing suspicious.
NASA said the space station has lost about a half-pound per square inch of pressure over the past week. The pressure normally is 14.7 pounds per square inch, equivalent to the pressure at sea level.
Russia’s old Mir space station was often plagued by air leaks. Kaleri was on board for some of them, and Foale was present when Mir was rammed by a supply ship in 1997. The ruptured lab module had to be sealed off.
“We’re addressing the issue here and that’s just part of working in space,” the chief of Russia’s Mission Control, Vladimir Solovyov, a former cosmonaut, told the spacemen.
The international space station is larger than Mir, however, and it could take longer to find a leak.
The next step will be for Foale and Kaleri to close the hatches between the U.S. and Russian sides of the space station in an attempt to isolate any leaks. If that does not work, then individual compartments will be sealed off one at a time. And if that still does not turn up any leaks, then a more specific point-to-point search will be conducted.
Flight controllers notified Foale and Kaleri about the pressure drop on Monday. Although first detected on Jan. 1, the falling pressure has been traced back to Dec. 22. It coincides with the malfunction and ultimate breakdown of the primary oxygen generator on board and could be related to the use of backup oxygen-producing canisters, rather than an actual leak.
Mission Control said the falling pressure also could be related to drastic changes recently in the amount of sunlight exposure to the space station, or the pressure sensors themselves may be inaccurate.
Whatever the reason, the problem comes at a bad time. With NASA’s space shuttles grounded indefinitely because of the Columbia tragedy, there is no way to send up all the necessary spare parts. Russian spacecraft are too small to carry large equipment.
The crew has been reduced from three to two until shuttle flights resume.
Foale, who is the station commander and turned 47 on Tuesday, moved in with Kaleri in October for a six-month stay.
A Russian psychic has offered help with the pressure problem. The man claimed he has been living aboard the space station for the past month, invisibly, and knows exactly where the leak is.
“A complete nutcase,” Solovyov told the crewmen in orbit. “Anyway, don’t spend too much time looking for the guy.” The reply from space: “Understood.”
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