Cape Canaveral (US), Jan 06: The international
space station is experiencing a slow, steady drop in air
pressure, and American and Russian flight controllers are
investigating possible causes of the leak.
Mission control notified astronaut Michael Foale and
cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri about the leak just before their
bedtime yesterday afternoon.
"There's no action for you at this time and no
immediate concerns," mission control assured the two men.
"We'll continue to investigate this on the next shift and we
may have some actions for you tomorrow."
Not long afterward, Foale radioed back that the men
had gone ahead and done some checks of their own. He reminded
mission control that Kaleri, one of the last two men on Mir,
was sent to the Russian outpost in 2000 to look for a similar
leak and was doing a thorough check of all the accessible
valves leading to the vacuum of space.
The valves on the U.S. side of the space station
checked out fine, Foale said. The men then turned their
attention to the valves inside the Russian compartments and
also the Russian cargo ship docked to the complex.
They found nothing amiss.
"We're going to call it a night and make sure we
don't misplace the leak (detection) equipment," Foale said
with a chuckle.
Mission control first noticed the drop in pressure
Jan 01 and said the data showed a daily decline of about 2
millimeters of mercury. As of yesterday, the pressure had
declined a total of nine millimeters. That is equivalent to
about one-quarter of a pound per square inch, said NASA
spokesman James Hartsfield.
Bureau Report
