Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) discovered a coin-sized hole, on Thursday, in the Russian section of the artificial satellite.
The issue came to light after the mission flight controllers in Moscow and Houston noticed a fall in cabin pressure on Wednesday night. Instead of carrying out an inspection of the station, the controllers advised the crew to go to bed, as there were no signs of any immediate danger.
The crew carried out the inspection the next morning and discovered the 2mm hole in the station’s orbital compartment of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, attached to the Russian segment.
According to a report by The Telegraph, German astronaut from the European Space Agency Alexander Gerst initially plugged the hole with his thumb before more extensive repairs could be carried out. On this, NASA’s ground control team commented that this was probably not the ‘best remedy’ for the problem.
The crew aboard the ISS temporarily patched the hole with duct tape and a sealant, and are working towards a permanent patchwork. As of Friday, the rate of the leak has slowed and long-term repair continues.
The report by The Telegraph says that if it had gone undiscovered, the crew could have run out of breathable air in 18 days.
The hole could have been caused by either the tonnes of space debris floating around Earth or by a micrometeorite. Experts have been warning for years that space junk, from defunct satellites and spacecraft, poses a serious threat to the ISS. But this is the first incident of any significant damage having been caused.
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