Latest news with #cosmonauts
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
ISS leak delays mission, raises concerns at NASA
(NewsNation) — NASA has delayed a mission due to a leak on the International Space Station as the aging space station approaches 30 years in orbit. NASA has not provided much detail on the latest leak, but it could be a serious concern for the ISS, which is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2030. This isn't the first time the ISS has sprung a leak. A slow but growing air leak in the transfer tunnel of the Russian service module has been present since 2019. Supernova may have caused an ice age: Study The Zvezda service model is one of the oldest on the ISS, launched in 1998. The transfer tunnel connects the Zvezda module with a docking port for supplies and Soyuz crew members. Russian cosmonauts have made attempts to repair the small cracks but have only slowed the leaks, which lose about a couple of pounds of air each day. To manage the leaks, the hatch to the tunnel is kept closed except when a spacecraft docks. Roscosmos said it had completely sealed the leak in the most recent round of repairs, and NASA also said the leak rate had halted. However, the overall air pressure in the space station continued to drop, according to a report from Ars Technica. What's leading to that air loss? That's an open question, though one possibility is that the seals on the hatch to the tunnel could be leaking, feeding the tunnel with air from the rest of the space station and creating a stable pressure that would make the leaks appear to be repaired. Moon farming may be possible thanks to Texas scientist NASA is monitoring the leak and has indefinitely delayed sending additional crew members to the ISS, pending the outcome of the leak issue. One worst-case scenario is that the leak is a sign of what's called high-cycle fatigue, where metal hardens through use and eventually snaps. That kind of fatigue is what led to the crash of an Aloha Airlines flight in 1988 and has recently been suggested as the cause of the Titan submersible implosion. If the leak is a result of high-cycle fatigue, it raises concerns that structures on the ISS could fail catastrophically. NASA has said the crew currently on the ISS is safe and conducting normal operations. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
The International Space Station Is Leaking Air — Here's What That Means for Astronauts
A pressure leak on the International Space Station (ISS) has delayed the launch of the Axiom 4 Mission The leak has been sealed and the segment is now 'holding pressure,' but NASA is delaying the launch indefinitely While a leak may sound scary, NASA explained that the seven astronauts aboard the ISS are in no immediate dangerA leak on the International Space Station (ISS) has caused a delay for a mission. NASA explained in a June 12 press release that the launch of the four-person Axiom Mission 4 will be delayed indefinitely while Russian scientists aboard the ISS investigate a pressure leak on the station's Zvezda service module. The cosmonauts "sealed some additional areas of interest and measured the current leak rate," NASA officials wrote. "Following this effort, the segment now is holding pressure." The 25-year-old Russian-made module provides living quarters, life support, electrical power, data processing, flight control and more to the astronauts on the station, according to NASA's website. While a leak may sound scary, the astronauts on the ISS are in no immediate danger, per NASA. However, the leak and other maintenance concerns over the last several years led to the international decision to retire the ISS by 2030, per NPR. The ISS was initially launched in 1998 and orbits the Earth at about 250 miles above ground. There are seven scientists aboard the station. The Axiom 4 Mission was previously delayed on June 11 after a propellant leak was discovered in the booster of the SpaceX rocket designated to launch the astronauts into space. It was delayed the previous day on June 10 due to non-ideal weather conditions at the launch site in NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Axiom 4 Mission is the fourth mission launched in collaboration with Axiom Space, which is a privately funded American space infrastructure developer based in Houston, Texas, per their website. NASA stated that a new launch date for the mission will be provided to the public once it becomes available. NASA also stated that Peggy Whitson, the former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, will command the mission, and SRO (Indian Space Research Organization) astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will serve as pilot. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The two mission specialists aboard will be European Space Agency project astronauts Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. Read the original article on People
