Crew Spending Weekend in Space Station’s Russian Segment
HOUSTON (NASA PR) — The three Expedition 63 crew members living aboard the International Space Station will spend the weekend inside the orbiting lab’s Russian segment. Commander Chris Cassidy and his crewmates Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin will stay in the Zvezda service module from Friday night into Monday morning.
The station’s atmosphere is maintained at pressure comfortable for the crew members, and a tiny bit of that air leaks over time, requiring routine repressurization from nitrogen tanks delivered on cargo resupply missions.
In September 2019, NASA and its international partners first saw indications of a slight increase above the standard cabin air leak rate. Because of routine station operations like spacewalks and spacecraft arrivals and departures, it took time to gather enough data to characterize those measurements.
That rate has slightly increased, so the teams are working a plan to isolate, identify, and potentially repair the source. The leak is still within segment specifications and presents no immediate danger to the crew or the space station.
All the space station hatches will be closed this weekend so mission controllers can carefully monitor the air pressure in each module. The test presents no safety concern for the crew. The test should determine which module is experiencing a higher-than-normal leak rate. The U.S. and Russian specialists expect preliminary results should be available for review by the end of next week.
The three station residents will have plenty of room in Zvezda this weekend. The module provides the living quarters that enabled permanent human habitation to begin nearly 20 years ago when the Expedition 1 crew arrived at the station Nov. 2, 2000. Cassidy, Vagner, and Ivanishin also will have access to the Poisk mini-research module and their Soyuz MS-16 crew ship for the duration of their stay.
13 responses to “Crew Spending Weekend in Space Station’s Russian Segment”
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Dang…
Not surprising given how long it’s been up there.
oh my creator it is the green slime on the walls eating the seals.. 🙂 cue music
Robert Horton and Richard Jaeckel are both dead! What are we gonna do! 🙂
Maybe the mystery driller has struck again. 🙂
wear ear protection
why?
the noise level in the Russian modules is very very high. I cannot remember the DB number…but it is in the “loss of hearing for constant exposure” range
Need BA330 for habitat. Should be low noise.
if I were king, and would not that be fun. ISS would be turned into a proving ground far various technologies…testing things like reusing upper stages as both propulsion and spent stages as modules, Bigelow type modules (IS SNC doing that now? Bigelow seems dark) etc
THIS is why we need to get multiple private space stations going, along with multiple types.
Bigelow should be in that mix.
Beating. Horse. Dead.
maybe.
Hopefully, not dead already.