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New space expedition to deliver equipment to orbital outpost to detect air leak

It will also take an additional upgraded sealant to plug the leakage site, the crew member said
Kathleen Rubins, Sergei Ryzhikov, Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Pyotr Dubrov, left to right Press service of the Roscosmos state corporation/TASS
Kathleen Rubins, Sergei Ryzhikov, Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and Pyotr Dubrov, left to right
© Press service of the Roscosmos state corporation/TASS

BAIKONUR /Kazakhstan/, October 13. /TASS/. The crew of the manned Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft that will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 14 will bring additional equipment to detect an air leak aboard the orbital outpost, Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov said at a pre-flight press conference on Tuesday.

"We will take additional equipment with us to trace the air leak more accurately and more thoroughly," the cosmonaut said.

The next expedition’s crew will also take an additional upgraded sealant to plug the air leak, Ryzhikov added.

The Roscosmos cosmonaut also said that additional oxygen supplies were normally delivered by Progress freight spacecraft.

The cosmonauts aboard the space station are now trying to find the air leak in the transfer compartment of the Russian Zvezda module. A source told TASS in August that the ISS’ Russian-American crew was carrying out work to locate the air leak.

As Roscosmos later told TASS, the cosmonauts have come to the conclusion that the air leakage happens in the Russian Zvezda module. The life and health of the crewmembers are not endangered. As Roscosmos Executive Director for Manned Space Programs Sergei Krikalyov said, an additional air supply may be required to be delivered to the space station, if the air leak cannot be eliminated quickly.

A Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the manned Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft is set to blast off from Site No. 31 (Vostok launch pad) of the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan at 08:45 a.m. Moscow time on October 14 to deliver Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov and NASA astronaut Kathleen Rubins to the orbital outpost.

Currently, Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy are working aboard the orbital outpost.