Astronauts out after toxic leak

The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) evacuated its U.S. section on Wednesday morning after an alarm sounded, indicating a possible ammonia leak. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

Shift ... A toxic leak has forced International Space Station astronauts to move. Picture: NASA Source: Supplied

THE six astronauts at the International Space Station are safe and are taking shelter in the Russian segment after an alarm went off on the US side of the orbiting outpost, NASA says.

The US space agency said on Wednesday it could not confirm that an ammonia leak was the cause, as the Russian space agency reported earlier.

"ISS flight controllers are not sure if the alarm was triggered by a pressure spike, a faulty sensor, or a problem in a computer relay box," NASA said on Twitter.

"Crew is safe. No ammonia leak confirmed. Crew responded to coolant loop pressure increases."

American astronauts also tweeted to saw they were doing fine.

Russia's space agency blamed the evacuation on a leak of a toxic substance.

The "toxic substance was emitted from a cooling system into the station's atmosphere" in the US segment of the station, the agency said in a statement.

"At present the American segment has been evacuated and the crew is safely located in the Russian segment," the statement said.

The American segment has been sealed off.

Leak ... An inside look at the International Space Station. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

A representative of the Russian mission control centre told Russian news agencies that the substance was ammonia.

The accident could also delay the departure of the US SpaceX cargo ship Dragon, which brought supplies earlier this week.

Fixing the leak may also require an emergency space walk, he added.

The International Space Station is a rare area of US-Russian co-operation that has not been hit by the crisis in Ukraine, which has prompted Washington to impose sanctions on Moscow.

In total 16 countries work on the ISS, whose cost is mainly shouldered by the United States.

Since NASA phased out the space shuttle system in 2011, it depends entirely on Russia to send its astronauts to the ISS.

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Astronauts out after toxic leak

Dengan url

http://gosipesbuk.blogspot.com/2015/01/astronauts-out-after-toxic-leak.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Astronauts out after toxic leak

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Astronauts out after toxic leak

sebagai sumbernya