A section of the International Space Station has been evacuated after an alert over a suspected ammonia leak in the American area of the station.
The six crew members were evacuated from the US section and moved into the Russian section at around 9am GMT this morning, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency has reported. In their initial statement, they attributed the alarm to an, “emission of substances from the coolant system into the atmosphere of ISS”. Maxim Matushin, head of the Russian Mission Control Centre remarked: “The security of a crew was guaranteed thanks to correct actions of the cosmonauts, astronauts and the crew of the Mission control centres in Moscow and Houston. Further plan of actions in the US modules must be prepared in Houston. For now NASA colleagues are analyzing (the) situation.”
According to NASA, the alarm appears to have been triggered by a faulty sensor. Reuters has reported that Jim Kelly from Mission Control in Houston radioed the crew, which consists of two Americans, one Italian, and three Russians, saying: “It’s becoming a stronger case that this is a false indication, which is great news.” The Guardian quoted a NASA spokesman who said: “There is no hard data to suggest there was a real ammonia leak.”
A statement from NASA, released on their website earlier today said: “Flight controllers in Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston saw an increase in pressure in the station’s water loop for thermal control system B then later saw a cabin pressure increase that could be indicative of an ammonia leak in the worst case scenario.” The statement added: “Acting conservatively to protect for the worst case scenario, the crew was directed to isolate themselves in the Russian segment while the teams are evaluating the situation.”
The International Space Station is used by the space agencies of 15 different countries but is divided into Russian and American sections. It was first launched in 1998 and was considered a symbol of the normalizing of east-west relations after the Cold War, a period when Russia and America competed for technological superiority in spaceflight capability.