NASA, Boeing helping Russia in trying to find cause of cracks on space station

Engineers from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration are helping Russia in its investigation into the possible causes of cracks and air leaks at the International Space Station. Russian cosmonauts found cracks in the oldest module of the ISS, Zarya, last month and warned that the cracks could start to expand

Moscow:Engineers from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are helping Russia in its investigation into the possible causes of cracks and air leaks at the International Space Station (ISS).

Paul Hill, a member of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, said at a Sunday panel meeting that the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, the Langley Research Center, the panel itself and the Boeing company are all conducting engineering analyzes of the issue. According to Russian Rocket and Space Corporation Energia, persistent air leaks on the ISS could be the result of welding errors made inside the Zarya and Zvezda modules three decades ago.

Energia's First Deputy General Designer Vladimir Soloviev told Sputnik at the end of last month that Russian cosmonauts found cracks in the oldest module of the ISS, Zarya, and warned that the earlier discovery of through cracks in the Zvezda module means that the Zarya cracks could start to expand.

Soloviev said that Russian cosmonauts were going to install highly sensitive vibration sensors inside the Russian segment of the ISS in the hope of finding the cause of air leaks. A small air leak was first detected at the ISS in September 2019. The crew have since identified and sealed two cracks but air continues to leak, which, nonetheless, poses no threat to those on board the space station, according to Russia's space agency Roscosmos.

(ANI/Sputnik)