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Air leakage virtually unnoticeable aboard orbital outpost, cosmonauts say

During training sessions on the ground, response to far more serious emergency situations was practiced, according to the Russian crewmember

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Crew of the International Space Station (ISS) actually do not notice an air leakage aboard the orbital outpost, Cosmonaut Sergei Kud-Sverchkov said on Tuesday.

"For us, it [the air leakage] is actually unnoticeable," the cosmonaut said in a video uploaded on his VKontakte social network account.

During training sessions on the ground, the cosmonauts practiced response to far more serious emergency situations, he stressed. "That is why, I have zero anxiety level about this minor leakage," the cosmonaut said.

The ISS crew reported to Russia’s Flight Control Center on the morning of October 15 that the cosmonauts had found a possible air leak spot in the inter-section compartment of the Zvezda module. Cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin later specified that the air leak spot looked like a curvilinear scratch 2-3 cm long. Cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov later said that the fracture measured about 4.5 cm.

In November, the Russian crewmembers of the ISS made images of the possible air leakage spot from outside the space station during the spacewalk. The cosmonauts did not notice any damage outside the station in the area of the fracture.