Oxygen Leak Registered @ the US section on the International Space Station

Cosmonauts detected a small air leak on the International Space Station (ISS), possibly in the American segment, but according to NASA it does not threaten the safety of the crew.

According to the chief control of the Russia section of the ISS, the station’s crew will move to the Zvezda module to control the pressure in the modules of the troubled US sector.

The decision was made jointly with the USA. The crew will carry out regular tasks during the three days it will spend in the Russian section. Roscosmos confirmed that the crew was not in any danger.

The source said earlier that they plan to isolate the US module on the station by closing the hatches between the segments.

Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Wagner, as well as American astronaut Christopher Cassidy, are staying on the ISS.

Currently, NASA astronaut Drew Morgan, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov are also on board the International Space Station (ISS).

The three spacemen arrived on the ISS on 20 July, 2020 and will return to Earth in January, 2021.

The last time an air leak on the ISS was recorded was on 30 August 2018. It turned out that the reason was a man-made hole in the Soyuz spacecraft.

The cosmonauts filled the hole with a sealant, but the cause of it is still unknown. A Roscosmos commission determined out that the ship could have been damaged on Earth.

In 2004, an air leak was discovered on the US segment of the ISS. After a long search, the astronauts discovered that it was located in the hose on the porthole of the Destiny module.

However, another launch of the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft from the Baikonur spaceport is scheduled for October 14, 2020.

For this flight the main crew includes NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins, and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, who are expected to remain at the ISS until April 17, 2021.

Russian space freighters usually use a standard two-day (34 turns) or short six-hour (four turns) circuits to reach the ISS. Soyuz spacecraft have been flying to the station with the six-hour route.

But, since 2018, Progress spacecraft have tested for a record fast flight in the three-hour route and successfully reached the ISS multiple times.

Sputnik / ABC Flash Point Space News 2020.