Air leakage in the building of the Russian Module “Star” at the International Space Station (ISS) were associated with the impact of the US and Europe ships. This was reported by RIA Novosti source in rocket and space industry.
“Among the causes of the occurrence of the case, specialists consider unsaturated powerful loads that arose when managing the ISS orientation by American shuttle or the ATV European cargo ship,” the agency’s source said.
According to the source, currently Russian astronauts continue searching for leaks. It is assumed that air leakage can go through hermetic entries – “places where cables or pipelines exit through the housing to the outer surface of the module.” The interlocutor added that in April to search for possible leakage sites on the piloted ship “Union MS-18” it is planned to bring a “new leak detector”.
In 2008-2015, five ATV ships visited the station, they all were stripped to the “Star” module and were used both to control the orientation of the ISS in space and the correction of its orbits.
In March, the Russian module “Star” recorded the continuation of air leakage after the sealing of two cracks. In 11 and a half hours, the pressure in the chamber decreased by 52 millimeters.
March 10 reported that the ISS found a new crack. Cosmonaut Ryzhikov inflicted the second layer of sealant on it. At the same time, it was located near the pipeline of the thermal regime system.
The hole in the ISS case was formed at the end of December 2020. Air leakage in the Russian module at the station was discovered in September.