spacetoday.net: ISS crew finds source of leak

Posted: Mon, Jan 12, 2004, 1:08 PM ET (1808 GMT)
ISS illustration (NASA)

ISS controllers and the station's two-man crew believe that a window in the station’s Destiny lab module is the source of a slow but persistent air leak. The ISS crew tracked down the leak Sunday to a "vacuum jumper", a cable used to equalize pressure in the large multipaned porthole in the US-built module. MSNBC reported that the leak should be repairable using equipment already on the station. The leak, first reported earlier this month but which apparently started in late December, has slightly reduced the air pressure on the station, although station officials stresses that the leak posed no risk to the station or its crew. Previous searches for the leak failed to turn up any sign of it, and controllers had planned to ask the crew to close hatches separating the US and Russian segments of the station to better determine where the leak was located. Russian officials said Monday they still planned to temporarily close off the Destiny module from the rest of the station to confirm the leak's location.