Category Archives: Space Station

Bob McDonald: Space station leak
A problem in the U.S. segment of the International Space Station on Wednesday prompted its 6-person crew to quickly lock it up and move to a Russian module, but they aren #39;t in danger, The CBC #39;s...

By: CBC News

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Bob McDonald: Space station leak - Video

U.S. section of space station evacuated after leak, NASA says
American crew members aboard the International Space Station were evacuated after a sensor indicated a potential ammonia leak. NASA says that leak ... 1. M/S Chris Hadfield and Pavel Vinogradov...

By: Marjorie Hamilton

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U.S. section of space station evacuated after leak, NASA says - Video

LIVE: NASA to hold second briefing after ISS toxic leak
NASA is to hold a second briefing on Wednesday January 14 regarding reports of a toxic leak in the US section of the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS crew reported there was no sign...

By: RuptlyTV

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LIVE: NASA to hold second briefing after ISS toxic leak - Video

Space Station Live: Fruit Fly Lab
NASA commentator Lori Meggs talks with Dr. Sharmila Bhattacharya of the NASA Ames Research Center, the principal investigator of the Fruit Fly Lab experiment that arrived at the International...

By: ReelNASA

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Space Station Live: Fruit Fly Lab - Video

#39;Harmful #39; Leak Shuts U.S. Zone of Space Station
Russia #39;s space agency said, the crew of the International Space Station were forced to evacuate the U.S. section Wednesday after a leak of harmful substances. The Russian Federal Space Agency...

By: WochitGeneralNews

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'Harmful' Leak Shuts U.S. Zone of Space Station - Video

International Space Station for Wed, 14th January 2015
This is a image taken from the live feed from the International Space Station.

By: dingo001

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International Space Station for Wed, 14th January 2015 - Video

US, Russian astronauts cozy up amid space station gas scare
A potential gas leak onboard the International Space Station is focisng American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts to spend some quality time together, with the US side being evacuated after...

By: RT America

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US, Russian astronauts cozy up amid space station gas scare - Video

ISS Astronauts Evacuated to Russian Side After Alarm
An Alarming Situation Aboard the International Space Station. Courtesy HD Video | DoD News | Date: 01.14.2015. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station were evacuated from the American.

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ISS Astronauts Evacuated to Russian Side After Alarm - Video

NASA (via Flickr) European astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti and NASA's Terry Virts participate in an emergency exercise training drill on Dec. 1, 2014.

Crewmembers on the International Space Station have now been allowed into the U.S. segment of the orbiting outpost, after a false alarm caused astronauts to evacuate that part of the station early Wednesday (Jan. 14).

The alarm could have indicated a possible leak of toxic ammonia into the station's cabin; however, NASA has found no evidence of a leak. NASA astronauts Terry Virts, Barry "Butch" Wilmore and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti re-entered the U.S. side which include the European, Japanese and U.S. station modules wearing masks at about 3:05 p.m. EST (2005 GMT). Cristoforetti and Virts took samples of the station's air and found no ammonia, according to NASA.

"The crew is in good condition, was never in any danger and no ammonia leak has been detected on the orbital laboratory," NASA officials wrote in an update.

NASA Crewmembers were forced to evacuate the U.S. segment of the International Space Station on Jan. 14, 2015 due to a possible ammonia leak.

NASA officials were worried that the space station's cooling system which uses ammonia to help regulate temperatures on the station could have been leaking the noxious gas into the station's atmosphere. [Inside the International Space Station (Infographic)]

Virts, Cristoforetti and Wilmore joined cosmonauts Elena Serova, Alexander Samokutyaev and Anton Shkaplerov in the Russian segment for much of the day after the alarm sounded at about 4 a.m. EST (0900 GMT). Because there is no sign of ammonia in the cabin, the crewmembers should be allowed to take of their masks and roam freely through all parts of the station, according to NASA.

Officials now think that the false alarm may have been caused by an error in a computer used to beam information to and from the space station. The computer, called a multiplexer-demultiplexer, now seems to be in good shape after officials turned the device off and on again, NASA officials said.

Mission Controllers are still working to understand exactly what set off the alarm, but work for the astronauts should continue as normal on Thursday (Jan. 15). NASA officials will now take steps to re-activate a cooling loop powered down because of the alarm.

NASA officials do not think that the research on the station was negatively impacted because of the evacuation.

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Space Station Astronauts Return to US Segment After Leak False Alarm

Last Updated Jan 14, 2015 4:58 PM EST

Crew members returned safely to the U.S. segment of the International Space Station Wednesday afternoon after evacuating earlier in the day.

Concern about a possible ammonia coolant leak early Wednesday prompted the three astronauts to evacuate their portion of the complex, joining three cosmonauts in Russian modules while flight controllers studied telemetry to figure out if alarms were triggered by an actual leak, a sensor problem or some other issue, officials said Wednesday.

A few hours later, engineers studying telemetry found no evidence of any leaking ammonia, raising suspicion that a circuit board, or card, in a specific computer known as a multiplexer-demultiplexer, or MDM, might have suffered a failure that took four critical sensors off line. That, in turn, triggered a sequence of events that may have combined to indicate a leak in the station's ammonia coolant system.

"At this point, the team does not believe we leaked ammonia," Mike Suffredini, the space station program manager, said at 11 a.m. EST (GMT-5). "What we are dealing with is this failure of probably a card inside one of our multiplexer-demultiplexers, it's just a computer that sends telemetry down and brings commands back up. This card has a number of measurements on it and those were the measurements we lost."

The alarms were triggered just after 4 a.m. EST (GMT-5) when an apparent pressure increase was detected in a water coolant loop in the forward Harmony module. Water is circulated inside the station to carry away the heat generated by the lab's electronics. The water then flows through components called heat exchangers, transferring the heat to ammonia coolant that flows through huge external radiators to keep the station within temperature limits.

The apparent pressure spike in coolant loop B was a possible indicator of an ammonia leak, and playing it safe, flight controllers told Expedition 42 commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore, Terry Virts and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti to don masks and move into the Russian segment of the space station.

The telemetry was confusing at first and the initial evacuation was briefly called off. But when flight controllers saw indications of a slight pressure increase in the crew's air supply -- a more convincing sign of an actual leak into the station -- they told the crew to head back to the Russian segment.

Joining cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev, Elena Serova and Anton Shkaplerov, Wilmore, Cristoforetti and Virts closed a hatch between NASA's Unity module and the Russian Zarya module, isolating all six crew members in the Russian segment of the lab complex, which uses a different cooling system.

Flight controllers then powered down critical systems tied into coolant loop B and shut down an external pump to reduce the pressure in the system. After studying the telemetry, however, engineers saw signs that something in that powerdown process might have triggered the slight change in air pressure that was detected.

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U.S. part of space station evacuated