Pah, diese VERSAGER!!! REUTERS:"Space station leak traced to U.S. lab - NASA"

verfasst von RK, 12.01.2004, 23:46

-->Space station leak traced to U.S. lab - NASA
By Sonia Oxley

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A tiny hole in the U.S. part of the International Space Station is the likely source of a leak that caused a steady drop in air pressure, a NASA official said on Monday.

Both Russia and the United States agreed the leak, discovered late last month, posed no danger to the two-man crew. But while Russia said the air pressure level had stabilised, the United States said it was continuing to drop.

"The leak is most likely in a flex hose in the U.S. module in the lab," Jim Newman, director of NASA's Human Space Flight Programme in Russia told Reuters.

"The technical guys are saying they are about 80 percent sure and they are going to look at it over the next few days and make sure that's what it really is," he added after earlier saying there was a 95 percent certainty.

He said the width of the hole was about the size of a pinhead and was in a hose connected to the biggest window in the laboratory.

Russian space authorities on Monday agreed this was the likely cause of the loss of the air pressure.

NASA astronaut Michael Foale and Russian Alexander Kaleri, aboard the station since October, have removed the defective hose used to help keep air and condensation out of the windows around the laboratory.

Newman said there were no spare hoses on the station, but there was no hurry to replace it as its absence posed no danger.

"Right now there is no rush. There is no danger to the crew and there hasn't been right through this whole thing," Newman said."There are no other flex hoses on board...but it will be simple enough to ship one up at the next opportunity."

FRESH CREW

The next cargo ship to the station is due to blast off at the end of this month from Russia's Baikonur base in Kazakhstan.

"Since I don't know that this is a critical component, I don't know they will ship one up on this flight -- perhaps the next one," he said, referring to a plan to send up a fresh crew in April to replace the current one.

Newman said despite finding the probable source of the leak it was not yet known whether the slow fall in air pressure had been halted, but it would become clear in the next few days.

He said a plan to seal off the four main modules on Wednesday and isolate the crewmen in one section for five days would probably continue despite the discovery of the hole.

"There is a good chance they will continue with the previously scheduled tests that they were going to do including...the sealing-off of the modules," Newman said.

Itar-Tass news agency reported on Monday that the crew's programme of experiments could be slightly shortened as a result of the sealing-off.

Russian space officials said they believed the air pressure had stabilised at a normal level.

"This small loss of pressure is not terrible for the station," Vyacheslav Mikhailichenko, spokesman for Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos, said."Now the pressure is normal."

He said the Russian sections of the station used completely different technology to the U.S. areas, but were no less likely to develop a fault.

"We have our own system, our own technology," he said."But in principle, anything can break."


<ul> ~ http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp;:40026e29:926346b2461ca329?type=worldNews&locale=en_IN&storyID=4108947</ul>

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gesamter Thread:

• Auch das Magnetfeld der Erde in der Krise - André, 12.01.2004, 16:16
  • Re::-))) - Zet, 12.01.2004, 16:31
    • Re: OT: Alternative - Zet, 12.01.2004, 16:52
    • Re::-))) Ja - André, 12.01.2004, 17:12
  • Re: das Magnetfeld der Erde und Sonnenwinde - Goldfinger, 12.01.2004, 17:32
    • Re: das Magnetfeld der Erde und Sonnenwinde - Sorrento, 12.01.2004, 18:31
      • Weder ums Milchstraßenzentrum noch die Kreiselerklärung stimmen!!! - RK, 12.01.2004, 23:20
      • auwei, astronomische Geschwindigkeiten und Entfernungen - SchlauFuchs, 12.01.2004, 23:23
        • Re: auwei, astronomische Geschwindigkeiten und Entfernungen - Euklid, 13.01.2004, 14:56
  • Aber auf den MOND sind sie ja angeblich dennoch, 0problem, die US-Supi-Boys!:-) - RK, 12.01.2004, 23:05
    • Pah, diese VERSAGER!!! REUTERS:"Space station leak traced to U.S. lab - NASA" - RK, 12.01.2004, 23:46
    • ich versteh gar nix - MarkXzzz, 13.01.2004, 03:14