US part of station sealed off - (Space Station crack discovered)

[ConcernedCanuk]

.
.
. _ US part of station sealed off

Moscow - The two astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) began on Monday to temporarily seal off the US section of the craft after a crack was discovered there, Russian officials said.

On Monday morning US mission commander Michael Foale discovered a crack in the US module that he and Russian flight engineer Alexander Kaleri sealed, the officials said.

/snip/

Monday's development followed a drop in cabin pressure aboard the ISS last week.

"The decay, which is currently measured at a rate of less that 0.04 pounds per square inch a day, is having no impact on station operations and the crew is in no danger," Nasa said in a brief statement.

The agency did not say when a drop in air pressure was first noticed but US television network NBC News cited a confidential internal Nasa report as saying it came to the attention of mission control on December 29.

/snip/



YIKES - takes them two weeks to "discover" the crack, or just to report it ?

After letting a damaged Columbia re-enter the atmosphere and blow itself to bits, you think the Admin would be a little more "responsible" ??

AND

Did I miss it, or has this hit the Mainstrean Murikkan Media yet ?

[NNN0LHI]

1. From November: Crew heard 'tin can' noise on space station

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/11/27/iss_thurs031127

HOUSTON - Crew members on board the international space station say they heard a brief metallic sound on Thursday but space officials on Earth say there are no signs of any problem.

U.S. astronaut Michael Foale told NASA's Mission Control he heard a metallic noise resembling something hitting the back end of the module.

"It sounded like a metal tin can kind of being expanded and compressed," Foale said.

The module houses the crew's sleeping quarters, kitchen and lavatory. Russian crewmate Alexander Kaleri also heard the sound.

more

[johnfunk]

4. Likely scenarios:

HOUSTON - Crew members on board the international space station say they heard a brief metallic sound.... U.S. astronaut Michael Foale told NASA's Mission Control he heard a metallic noise resembling something hitting the back end of the module.... "It sounded like a metal tin can kind of being expanded and compressed," Foale said.

It could have been a micrometeoroid or a small piece of space junk impacting, but a more likely scenario -- the metal tin can sound -- also suggests that temperature and/or dynamic stress may be the culprit that caused the crack. Remember that the station weighs thousands of tons, and outside temperatures fluctuate by hundreds of degrees as the station enters and leaves direct sunlight. Even the "impavt" sound could be a dynamic transient of metal flexing not from impact but under enormous pressure.

[Pale_Rider]

16. According to CNN ...

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/01/12/station.leak.reut/index.html

"The leak is in a flex hose in the lab window," Jim Neuman, Director of NASA's Human Space Flight Programme in Russia, told Reuters by telephone.

"It's 95 percent at this stage... It is most likely the culprit."

He said the problem, if confirmed, would probably be solved by replacing the hose which helps keep air and condensation out of the windows around the laboratory.

[MaineDem]

2. I heard this about a week ago

Not about the crack but about the loss of pressure.

[CBI]

3. "I heard this about a week ago"

Two weeks ago a faulty Russian air-purifier was given as a reason for the drop in the air pressure.

[mbperrin]

5. Sealing off and abandoning a section is

NO impact?!

Hmmm...wonder what "impact" would involve? Flaming death in space? Nah. Could never happen to US with all the privatization we've done in the space program, right?

[Minstrel Boy]

6. Er, um... on to Mars! n/t

[jmcgowanjm]

12. read somewhere in passing Bush would make Mars speech

this week.

Ignored it then, but now in view of this...

[underpants]

7. IS there a crack in the US part or is CRACK deciding US space policy?

I ask, you decide.

[flaminbats]

8. NASA must either replace that module now or evacuate the crew.

Any more deaths will mean the end of our civilian space program.

The module that is cracked is the Unity Module, the connection node of the station which all other compenents are to be attached. This module obviously has some critical design problems. The short-term solution is to repair the crack and power down the station. The long-term solution will be to return when the Shuttle is again flying, and replace the Unity Module with something not too cheap that is safe enough for the crew to live in!

But the basic choice is clear, to allow all of NASA to be sacrificed..or to avoid loss of more human lives while denying the repukes another chance to pass the buck.

[Barrett808]

9. Looks like it's the Destiny module

But it is a worrisome development.

[NNN0LHI]

10. Bush will use some more of his faith based solutions on this problem

He will pray like hell.

Don

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

11. Maybe

There is a stress problem from constantly ajusting the orbit height of the station. that thing sinks fast, and they have to constantly blast it a few miles higher every once in a while.
If this is a stress fracture, maybe they will just park it on the moon. Phase two? Bush moon station?
I also heard long ago that they can and will launch a shuttle if they have to. Also news gossip of the shuttle/station missions ending with the moon being a better base for studies. I don't really keep track of that stuff though. Too much to worry about on earth, like paying bills...

[0007]

17. At least those astronauts are close to heaven & god

should be right up junior's alley

[daleo]

13. Do they have an escape capsule?

I seem to recall that there is a Russian capsule docked to the ISS at all times, but I don't remember for sure. It shows how tricky manned space flight is. Imagine a similar problem occurring on a trip to Mars.

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

14. I think

you are right, that they have a Russian escape pod there.

[ConcernedCanuk]

15. USA plans to replace the Suyuz escape pod by 2010

.
.
. so they have to rely on the russians for a few years yet -- hmmmmm

NASA Looks for an Emergency Exit

02:00 AM Jan. 07, 2004 PT

While the world remains transfixed by the Spirit rover's trek across the Mars landscape, a NASA program is quietly setting its sights on another destination: safe ground here on Earth.

/snip/

Aerospace industry giant Lockheed Martin started work on the Pad Abort Demonstrator, or PAD, in November 2002 after winning a competitive contract from NASA. Lessons learned from that automated getaway capsule will be applied to the upcoming Orbital Space Plane, which will replace the Russian Soyuz capsules as a space station escape pod by 2010. By 2012, the space plane will carry crews up to the station as well, making it a successor to the space shuttles.

The PAD already has undergone wind-tunnel and other tests, and will have demonstration flights starting in 2005 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

/snip/

Interesting "timing" of these "reports" ? :shrug:

[mouse7]

18. Space station leak located in lab

"Space station leak located in lab
15:38 12 January 04

NewScientist.com news service

A leaky hose in a window of the laboratory module Destiny has been blamed for the International Space Station's three-week drop in air pressure.

The hose, used to equalise pressure and eliminate fog between two of the window's six clear panes, has been capped according to NASA. The hose has yet to be unequivocally confirmed as the source of the leak, but the station's air pressure does seem to have now stabilised.

US astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri have been searching for the leak since they were told about it on 5 January. On 9 January they ruled out a Russian air purifier, and over the weekend they checked airlocks on the US and Russian station segments, as well as the docked Russian Soyuz lifeboat - all of which appeared airtight.

On Sunday, Foale returned to the US-built Destiny lab that he and Kaleri had checked with an ultrasonic leak detector a few days earlier. Both crew members initially thought they had heard a suspicious hiss from the window on that first check, but they concluded the noise was from a nearby science experiment...."

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994556

[Venomous_Rhetoric]

24. Chuckle

I heard that "Hose" story after I got off the PC and was driving to the city after my last post on this thread.

I haven't heard if it was a confirmed leaky hose, but hell, They can bring it back to Canadian tire service centre to have it inspected when they change crews....

So, what about this crack they repaired? Is that stil a worry? or was that a different story? (are they smoking good dope up there?)

[DS1]

19. Oh for f*ck's sake, nobody thought to bring a can of Fix-A-Flat?

I should be in charge :grr:

[Ganja Ninja]

20. Looks like a case of more shoddy American workmanship.

Imagine how the "USA! USA! USA!" crowd would be comming down on the Russians if this was their fault.

[jmcgowanjm]

21. why doesn't Russia own the space station, now? n/t

[NickB79]

22. Can't even keep a space station airtight, but onto the Moon?

A lunar base would likely be much larger than the International Space Station, and more difficult to build. We spent how much on the ISS? How many more times would it cost to build a lunar base? We can't even keep the Biosphere domes stable and able to sustain human life right here on Earth, where all you have to do is open a door to escape should something go wrong. But forget all that, ON TO THE MOON, AND ON TO MARS!!!

[ConcernedCanuk]

23. Aw heck - da BFEE just wants tax $$$ to make a base on the moon

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That'd be a MILITARY base, missiles and all !

Can anyone think of any OTHER reason to set up on the Moon ?

And yah, they'll send up some extra duct tape,

and of course,

a "fix-a-flat" or two

. . . .