Russian cosmonauts find new cracks in the ISS module

MOSCOW, Aug 30 (Reuters) – Russian cosmonauts have discovered new cracks in a segment of the International Space Station that could widen, a senior space official said on Monday, the latest in a series of setbacks.

“Superficial cracks have been found in some places of the Zarya module,” Vladimir Solovyov, chief engineer of the space and rocket corporation Energy, told RIA news agency. “This is bad and suggests that the cracks will start to spread over time.”

He did not say if the cracks had caused air leaks.

The space official has previously said that much of the International Space Station’s equipment is starting to age and has warned that there could be an “avalanche” of broken equipment after 2025.

The space station has suffered several recent incidents. Russian officials last month said a software bug and a possible human attention spill would be to blame for throwing the ISS out of control.

The jet thrusters of the Russian research module Nauka inadvertently restarted a few hours after docking, causing all orbital advantages to come out of their normal flight position with seven crew members on board. Read more

Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, also reported last month a drop in pressure on the Zvezda service module, which provides housing to crew members on the ISS caused by an air leak.

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, has said it will continue to be part of the ISS until 2024 and is open to extending its participation beyond then.

Reports by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Edited by Hugh Lawson

Our standards: the principles of trust of Thomson Reuters.