22:03 27.12.2020(Updated 22:15 27.12.2020) Short url

Despite several attempts to stop the leak, the International Space Station is losing oxygen, according to interviews between ISS crew members and NASA-relayed Earth.

The oxygen leak, discovered at the International Space Station (ISS) in 2019, has not yet been sealed despite crew efforts, according to the U.S. space agency, which is based on discussions between astronauts and experts in ground broadcasting.

Russian astronaut Sergei Raishikov closed the hatch leading to the intermediate chamber of the Sweden module on the night of December 26-27. Eighteen hours later, he found that the atmospheric pressure in the chamber had dropped to 730 to 620 mmHg. He informed the Russian space flight control center.

However, on December 23, the crew announced that the atmospheric pressure at the station was stable. Discovering a new leak.

Looking for a leak from 2019

There was a slight oxygen leak in the RSS Discovered in September 2019. In August, its speed increased fivefold. The astronauts closed twice to hatch the orbital station modules.

They established it Oxygen is released through the intermediate chamber From the Russian Swedish module. In October, there are astronauts Anatoly Ivanichin and Ivan Wagner. A crack 4.5 cm long was found It was temporarily plugged in. Ros‌cosmos, a Russian space holding company, told Sputnik that the leak was not a danger to crew members and that specialists on Earth were considering ways to seal it for good.

The Progress MS-16 cargo ship will deliver a special repair package to the RSS in February. Yuri Gidsenko, who was responsible for the flight of the Russian section of the ISS, commented that this would put pressure on the intermediate chamber of the Swedish module.

In December, Roscosmos human spaceflight executive director Sergei Krikalev told Sputnik that the crew was looking for another oxygen leak in the Sweden module.

Currently, the ISS crew includes Russians Sergei Rykov, Sergei Kud-Svertkov, Americans Kathleen Rubins, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japanese Sochi Noguchi.