WASHINGTON, Apr 13: The liquid methane leak that occurred outside the US segment of the International Space Station (ISS) did not impact other station systems or operations, NASA Public Affairs Officer Dan Huot told Sputnik.
“On April 8, the Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3) started experiencing issues powering up its cryogen coolers that maintain the temperature of liquid methane contained within the module,” Huot said Friday. “As a result, the temperature of the liquid began to rise. The liquid methane turned into a gas and was safely vented from the payload. There was no impact to other station systems or operations.”
A Russian space industry source told Sputnik earlier in the day that a leak of several dozen kilograms of liquid methane had occurred outside the US segment of the ISS due to the failure of the experimental equipment RRM-3 to test the refueling process.
The RRM-3 equipment, developed by NASA, was delivered to the ISS in December 2018 on board the Dragon cargo ship. It was installed on a platform outside the hull of the station.
Current ISS crew comprises Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Alexey Ovchinin, NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Anne McClain and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques.
(AGENCIES)
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