...TO THE RESCUE!
Posted on 01/12/2004 7:24:16 AM PST by Bush Cheney
THE leak which caused air pressure to drop on the International Space Station was caused by the malfunction of a valve that disposes of extra pressure, Russian space officials said today.
The leak has caused the pressure to drop steadily since late December, raising fears about the safety of the American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut onboard the 16-nation floating space lab.
Sergei Gorbunov, spokesman for Rosaviakosmos, the Russian Aerospace Agency, said that one of the valves used to get rid of extra air pressure was identified as the source of the problem.
With the leak identified, the astronauts should be able to fix it, he said.
"The problem will be completely solved within the next few days," he said on Russia's Echo of Moscow radio. Gorbunov said that the drop in pressure had stabilised.
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Design by the always helpful to FR Tumbleweed Connection- thanks!
...TO THE RESCUE!
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A leak that caused air pressure to drop aboard the International Space Station (news - web sites) is most likely to have originated in a hose in a U.S. laboratory on board, a NASA (news - web sites) official in Russia said on Monday.
The leak, discovered late last month, sparked a fresh row over the 16-nation station between the United States and Russia. But both acknowledged that it posed no danger to the two-man crew.
"The leak is in a flex hose in the lab window," Jim Newman, director of NASA's Human Space Flight Program in Russia, told Reuters by telephone.
"It's ninety-five 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.
Newman believed there was no longer any need to proceed with a plan to isolate the crewmen -- U.S. astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri -- in a station module for five days.
That plan called for closing hatches connecting the four main modules -- two Russian and two American -- in order to trace the leak.
NASA officials said last week they believed the orbital platform was continuing to lose air pressure, while Russian officials say the pressure had stabilized at a normal level.
Previous squabbles between the two space powers have included U.S. safety concerns ahead of the current crew's launch and Russia's belief the United States should contribute more funds to the project.
I thought it was duct tape--as in heating duct--not "duck."
I think NASA calls it gray tape. At least that's what the astronauts called it on Columbia's last flight.
You thought correctly. Although there is a Duck brand of duct tape out there: Duck duct tape. :-)
MM
We used to call it "Hundred-mile-an-hour" tape. I guess in this case, it would be "ten-thousand-mile-an-hour tape."
It is, or was originally. Lazy speakers contributed to the change, as did a company that started manufacturing and selling the ubiquitous stuff under the "Duck Tape" brand name.
Oddly, the standard-issue duct tape dries out over time when employed in its original application, and modern newly-installed ducting is more likely to be sealed with a metalic adhesive tape or with other compounds. The original duct tape, therefore, has outgrown its first purpose and found tons of secondary applications.
Michael
Uh oh. Here comes "AFLAC Tape."
Michael
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