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Cosmonauts register air pressure drop in orbital outpost’s compartment with air leak

It measures 730 mm of mercury and 465 mm of mercury, cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov said
International Space Station NASA
International Space Station
© NASA

MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. The air pressure in the intermediate chamber of the Russian Zvezda module aboard the International Space Station (ISS) where a crack was found dropped over the weekend, cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov said during a communications session with Russia’s Flight Control Center on Monday.

"The air pressure in the compartments of the intermediate chamber is 730 [mm of mercury] and 465 [mm of mercury] at present," the cosmonaut reported during the talks with Earth broadcast live on NASA’s website.

On February 26, the Russian cosmonauts closed the hatch of the intermediate chamber. The air pressure measured 730 mm of mercury there at that time. During the weekend, the Russian crewmembers monitored the air pressure in the intermediate chamber every four hours.

The press office of the Russian space agency Roscosmos told TASS last week that the cosmonauts had temporarily isolated several possible air leak spots. Following this, the Russian crewmembers opened them and examined them with the help of a microscope and other instruments and then temporarily sealed them again. This week, the cosmonauts are planning to seal the first crack.