NASA says new pump fixed space station leak

AP Photo / NASA

In this photo from Saturday made available by NASA, astronaut Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn (not pictured) perform a space walk to inspect and replace a pump controller box on the International Space Station after an ammonia coolant leak was discovered.

By Marcia Dunn, AP

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- An impromptu spacewalk over the weekend seems to have fixed a big ammonia leak at the International Space Station, NASA said Thursday.

The "gusher" erupted a week ago, prompting the hastiest repair job ever by residents of the orbiting lab. Spacewalking astronauts replaced a suspect ammonia pump on Saturday, just two days after the trouble arose.

NASA is now calling the old, removed pump "Mr. Leaky," said flight controller Anthony Vareha.

"Right now, we're feeling pretty good. We definitely got the big leak," Vareha said in a NASA broadcast from Mission Control in Houston.

Vareha said engineers don't know whether the pump replacement also took care of a smaller leak that has plagued the system for years. It will take at least a couple months of monitoring to know the full status.

Ammonia is used as a coolant in the space station's radiator system.

The leak forced one of the station's seven power channels to go offline. NASA hopes to resume normal operations early next week, following computer software updates.

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NASA says new pump fixed space station leak