• subscribe
    • General

    Spacewalk needed to fix ammonia leak on International Space Station

    Astronauts on the International Space Station are preparing for an unscheduled space walk to fix leaking ammonia, which is used to cool the power panels on the station.

    While Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who is currently commanding the station, won’t be one of two people doing the spacewalk, he will be assisting from inside. Astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn are preparing for the walk.

    “The crew is not in danger, and the station continues to operate normally otherwise,” NASA said in a press release issued Thursday. “Work is underway to reroute power channels to maintain full operation of the systems normally controlled by the solar array that is cooled by the suspect loop.”

    Crews discovered the leak after they saw small white flakes floating away from the station Thursday, says NASA. Using cameras and data from ground crews, members of the International Space Station were able to determine that the rate of the ammonia leak was increasing.

    On Twitter, Hadfield called the situation “serious” on Thursday evening.

    It is a serious situation, but between crew and experts on the ground, it appears to have been stabilized. Tomorrow we find out for certain.

    Emily Senger
    <p>This undated file image provided by the European Space Agency ESA on Wednesday April 3, 2013 shows the International Space Station in the sunlight. A $2 billion cosmic ray detector on the International Space Station has found the footprint of something that could be dark matter, the mysterious substance that is believed to hold the cosmos together but has never been directly observed, scientists say. But the first results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, known by its acronym AMS, are almost as enigmatic as dark matter itself. They show evidence of new physics phenomena that could be the strange and unknown dark matter or could be energy that originates from pulsars, scientists at the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva announced Wednesday April 3, 2013. (AP Photo/NASA/European Space Agency ESA. Keystone)</p>

    (NASA/European Space Agency/AP)

    AP/Dmitry Lovetsky

    Astronauts on the International Space Station are preparing for an unscheduled space walk to fix leaking ammonia, which is used to cool the power panels on the station.

    While Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who is currently commanding the station, won’t be one of two people doing the spacewalk, he will be assisting from inside. Astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn are preparing for the walk.

    “The crew is not in danger, and the station continues to operate normally otherwise,” NASA said in a press release issued Thursday. “Work is underway to reroute power channels to maintain full operation of the systems normally controlled by the solar array that is cooled by the suspect loop.”

    Crews discovered the leak after they saw small white flakes floating away from the station Thursday, says NASA. Using cameras and data from ground crews, members of the International Space Station were able to determine that the rate of the ammonia leak was increasing.

    On Twitter, Hadfield called the situation “serious” on Thursday evening.

    Hadfield used his Twitter account to announce the change of plans on Friday morning.

    tags:Chris Hadfield