MOSCOW (AP) — A problem in the U.S. segment of the International Space Station on Wednesday prompted its six-person crew to quickly lock it up and move to a Russian module, but they aren’t in danger, Russian and U.S. official said.
“The space station crew is safe,” NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said.
Roscosmos said in a statement that a “leak of harmful substances from the cooling system” prompted the crew to isolate the American module. “The crew is safe and is in the Russian segment now,” it said in a statement.
While the Interfax news agency quoted Russian Mission Control as saying that there was an ammonia leak, NASA said a problem developed which could have resulted in an ammonia leak.
“We saw an increase in water loop pressure, then later saw a cabin-pressure increase that could be indicative of an ammonia leak in the worst case scenario, so we protected for the worst case scenario and isolated the crew is the Russian segment of the space station while the teams are evaluating the situation,” Jacobs said.
Mission control experts in Moscow and Houston quickly and efficiently cooperated to ensure the crew’s safety, the Russian agency said. It added that Houston specialists are now analyzing the situation with the U.S. segment.
The space outpost is manned by NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts, Russians Elena Serova, Alexander Samoukutyaev and Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.
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