An air leak was discovered and isolated on the Russian segment of the ISS. It was located in the intermediate chamber of the Zvezda service module.
According to Alexey Varochko, General Director of the Khrunichev Center, in an interview with RIA Novosti, the leak does not significantly affect the operation of the ISS.
Measures have been taken with the intermediate chamber of the module to eliminate the detected leak, and they have had some success. Periodic isolation of the chamber from the rest of the module's habitable compartment helps to reduce air loss from the chamber. The crew enters the chamber for the duration of the work being carried out in it.
Nevertheless, the search for the causes of the leak and ways to eliminate it are underway, and the service life of Zvezda has been extended until 2028, that is, until the last days of the ISS service.
Earlier, in an interview to "Perviy Technicheskiy", Hero of Russia, test cosmonaut Sergei Korsakov, said that the ISS looks workable from the inside, but the technical characteristics that can be measured show that it is already past its prime.
For example, in the PRK (intermediate chamber), where cargo ships dock, there is metal fatigue, microcracks appear, which create a certain danger. Therefore, people who study this issue have decided that the station is wearing out and sooner or later it will need to be replaced. The operation of the ISS has been extended until 2028, and I assume that it may be extended, but not for too long.
The latest air leak in the Russian segment of the ISS became known at the end of February this year. The information was announced first at a briefing by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and then confirmed by Roscosmos. Then, the commander of the Roscosmos cosmonaut corps, Oleg Kononenko, was instructed to find and localize the leak with the support of specialists from Earth.
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