International Space Station (ISS). (Photo: NASA / Fox News)
NASA ASTRONAUT Chris Cassidy along with two from Russia Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner woke up on Monday night yesterday due to a small leak at the International Space Station (ISS) .
"Late Monday night, the Expedition 63 crew were awakened by flight controllers to continue troubleshooting a small leak in the International Space Station, which seems to grow," said NASA in a statement, as quoted by Fox News , Thursday (10/01/2020) .
"Field analysis of the modules tested overnight has isolated the location of the leak to the main work area of the Zvezda Service Module," he continued.
NASA noted that the leak, which had been investigating for several weeks, did not pose an immediate danger to the crew.
Cassidy Station commanders, Ivanishin and Vagner, are ordered to collect data from various locations in the Russian space station segment.
"One by one the crew closed the holes between the back and front of the Zvezda and the Zvezda passageway to the Docking Pirs Compartment and the Poisk module while using the ultrasonic leak detector to collect data," NASA said.
Throughout the night, these specialists from the United States and Russia took pressure measurements to try to isolate the source of the leak.
After completing the check, the hatch between the US and Russian segments of the International Space Station was reopened and the crew continued their normal duties.
"The magnitude of the leak identified overnight has since been attributed to temporary temperature changes inside the station with the overall leak rate remaining unchanged," NASA noted. Fox News has contacted NASA for an explanation regarding this incident.
Last month a small leak occurred in the US segment of the orbiting space station. As a result Cassidy briefly joined Ivanishin and Vagner in Russia's Zvezda service module.
Cassidy, a US Navy captain who spent 11 years as a Navy SEAL, was launched into an orbiting space laboratory on April 9, 2020.