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ISS Soyuz Oxygen Leak Repaired

A hole about two millimeters in diameter in the upper section of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft caused a small oxygen leak on the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, prompting action from the astronauts currently occupying the station.
Soyuz MS-09 hit by micro-meteorite, oxygen leak follows 1 photo
Photo: NASA
The problem was discovered by Russian and American Earth-based control centers on August 30, while the crew was asleep. Because it was not deemed life-threatening, the decision was made to let the crew sleep.

When they woke up, the astronauts had to seal off compartments one by one in order to identify the source of the problem. As per initial reports, the cause of the leak appears to have been a micro-meteorite or space debris that impacted a part of the Soyuz MS-09 capsule which arrived at the station in June.

NASA says Soyuz commander Sergey Prokopyev used epoxy on a gauze wipe to plug the hole, while ground controllers used the reserves in the Progress 70 cargo ship to increase the amount of oxygen in the station. Later on Thursday, NASA announced the problem is temporarily fixed.

The Soyuz MS-09 will not be used to bring back astronauts from the ISS, so any other damages to the spacecraft will not be endangering their lives.

“Throughout the day, the crew was never in any danger, and was told no further action was contemplated for the remainder of the day. Flight controllers will monitor the pressure trends overnight,” said NASA in a statement.

“All station systems are stable and the crew is planning to return to its regular schedule of work on Friday.”

Born in 1998 with the launch of the first component, the ISS is currently the only man-made structure in space that can support human residents for long periods of time, orbiting the planet at the height of 408 km (253 miles).

Currently, there are several spacecraft delivering science, cargo, astronauts or supplies to the ISS: Orbital ATK’s Cygnus, SpaceX’s Dragon, JAXA’s HTV, and the Russian Progress and Soyuz.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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