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Wednesday, January 14, 2015

JUST IN: 'Harmful' Leak Forces Evacuation of U.S. Section of Space Station

The crew of the International Space Station were forced to evacuate the U.S. section Wednesday after a leak of "harmful substances," Russia's space agency said.

All crew were safe and had moved to the Russian side of the facility, the Russian Federal Space Agency said on its website. The U.S. section of the I.S.S. had been sealed off, it said.

"The safety of the team was preserved thanks to swift actions of the cosmonauts and astronauts themselves and the team on the ground in Moscow and Houston," said the chief of Russian mission control Maksim Matyushin.

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

and we have no way to go up and get them

Anonymous said...

Are we talking sewage, noxious gas, chemicals, biologicals or nuclear leaks?

Anonymous said...

They have 2 escape capsules so no need to get them as they can hop in those and return to earth at any time.

Anonymous said...

Part of the new cold war no doubt. Just hope the Americans don't retaliate, would not be prudent.

Anonymous said...

With all the technology and different refrigerants those idiots use the most toxic and out-dated one. Very few companies use this type anymore.

Anonymous said...

8:31 there is nothing Nuclear on the ISS that is why you see all the solar panels. It gets its energy from the sun.

The leak was Ammonia which they use to keep the systems cool.

8:51 here is your answer..

Ammonia was selected as the refrigerant for the Space Station’s external cooling system because, in the words of Boeing Active Thermal Control System Analysis and Integration engineer, Thang Mai, it is simply “the best…it’s more efficient and has great viscosity which means liquid ammonia can travel through piping with minimum pumping power. This translates into lower energy use.”

Mr. Mai continued that ammonia also has enormous thermal capacity. It can collect, store and transport heat without using high pumping power. It also has a low freezing point of -108°F at standard atmospheric pressure. “No other fluid can go that low and still be pumpable.” Ammonia, moreover, is lighter than water by 30% which means that an ammonia system has less launch weight — another huge plus in an application where every bit of weight in the payload has to be justified.

Anonymous said...

Fart in a space suit and it becomes an international incident.

Anonymous said...

10:46 If the astronauts had any experience at all in a typical Eastern Shore chicken house they could have manned up and stayed there.

Anonymous said...

2:21 This is 10:46 and I have to say I couldn't agree more. I think they need to add a tour of raising a couple of flocks of chickens here on the shore before they go into space. lol

Anonymous said...

Obama's NASA