MOSCOW, Oct 15, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The oxygen supply system has failed in a
module on the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS) but the
crew is in no danger, Russian space agency Roscosmos said Thursday.
The oxygen supply system on the Zvezda module on the orbital lab failed
late on Wednesday but a second system on the American segment is operating
normally, a Roscosmos spokesperson told AFP.
“Nothing threatens the security of the crew and the ISS,” said the
spokesperson, adding this repair work to fix the issue would be carried out on
Thursday.
The issue arose after three new crew — two Russian cosmonauts and an
American astronaut — reached the ISS on Wednesday to bring the number of
current crew on board to six.
The problem is the latest incident on the ISS — whose first module was
launched over two decades ago in 1998 — after the crew in August detected an
air leak on board.
Roscosmos emphasised at the time that the leak was not significant and
posed no danger. But part of the problem was detecting precisely where it came
from.
The crew believe that they have now found the source of the leak. The
Roscosmos spokesperson said that they would receive precise instructions from
mission control to carry out future work on the problem.
Quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency, veteran Russian cosmonaut Gennady
Padalka said that the Russian equipment aboard the ISS was well past its use-by
date.
“All modules of the Russian segment are exhausted,” said Padalka, who holds
the world record for most days spent in space. He added that the equipment
should only be used for 15 years whereas it was now two decades old.