As reported Digital appearanceThe International Space Station (ISS) was taken by a very unpleasant smell last Saturday (23). This happened as soon as the cosmonauts (designation for Russian astronauts) opened access to a loading boat that had just anchored to the orbital scientific complex.
According to a statement from NASA, on Monday (25), after inspection of the air conditions of the station, Ivan Vagner and Aleksandr Gorbunov resumed “order” tires.
Remember the fact:
- On Thursday morning (21), Russia launched the progress of the 90 progress mission for ISS;
- The cargo ship reached the destination two days later, loaded with almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies;
- When the halves opened, the crew members denounced an unusual smell within the capsule, which soon spread through the orbital laboratory;
- The smell was described as “toxic” and “similar to spray painting”;
- The NASA headquarters in Houston, USA, activated the station’s air purification system;
- After air purifiers shoot and pollutant sensors examine the atmosphere of the environment, the quality of the air in the structure has returned to normal levels.
The crew reported that the smell has been dissipated rapidly and that load transfer operations occur within the calendar.
Declaration of NASA
Loading ship is examined by Russian astronauts
Upon entering the Progress Capsule, members of the Russian Issa crew access to the load and have already begun to use some of the “receipts”.
While Vawner wiped out the ventilation system of the ship and made a photo inspection, Gorbunov reduced the radiation data and installed the Earth’s observation hardware to obtain images of the planet’s night atmosphere in almost ultraviolet wavelengths. The flight engineer, Alexy Ovchinin, who had begun the day by studying futuristic spaces and robotic assembly techniques, was responsible for transferring the newly arrived water from the progress capsule at the station.
In the statement, NASA emphasizes that neither ISS nor the crew are or are in danger due to the smell. The agency added that the bad smell “probably left materials from inside the loading spacecraft”, but did not give any details.
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The cosmonauts noticed droplets inside the loader
It is possible, however, that the load has nothing to do with the subject. According to the website Russian Space Webwhich controlled the communications between the control of the mission to the soil and the ISS, Vanner and Gorbunov reported “droplets” on the walls of the loader vehicle, which was confirmed by the official profile of X. station.
This observation increases the leak hypothesis, which has happened other times in progressive capsules (such as in February last year) and even on a crew boat, leaving three “stuck” astronauts for more than a year a year.
Due to a critical episode, the access between the Russian side and the American side of the ISS is currently closed. In the last five years, there has been a continuous air leak in the Russian segment. NASA and Roscosmos continue to oversee the situation, which “is not an immediate risk for crew or station operations”. However, agencies disagree with the cause and solution of leaks (get more information here).
