MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. There have been no gas leaks on board the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS), the spokesperson for the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Irina Zubareva, has told TASS.
Earlier, NASA in its official blog said there had been a minor leak of the gas khladon (Freon-218) from the system of air conditioning.
“We do not confirm the NASA blog publication,” Zubareva said. “There were no gas leaks on the Russian segment.”
According to the NASA blog, cosmonauts “Samokutyaev and Serova performed steps to release pressure in the Russian segment’s air conditioner system by venting khladon gas (Freon 218) overboard. However, several of the quick disconnects that were actuated during the procedure exhibited leaks. As a result, the khladon was vented into the cabin instead. The quantity released was approximately 100 g, which results in a density of 117 mg/m3 over the volume of ISS, which was below the stated ISS zero risk flight rule limit of 150 mg/m3. As part of nominal air scrubbing process, the Russian Air Purification System and the USOS Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) will remove residual Khladon from the atmosphere,” the NASA blog said.