NASA astronauts fix leak on International Space Station

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Astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Christopher Cassidy conducted a spacewalk Saturday to fix an ammonia leak. They replaced a suspected faulty pump on the International Space Station.

UPDATED: 4:30 p.m., Saturday.

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As a nearly five-hour spacewalk Saturday morning drew to a close, the two astronauts replaced a suspected faulty pump in an effort to fix an ammonia coolant leak on the International Space Station.

Astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Christopher Cassidy began their spacewalk at 8:44 a.m. Saturday. The two successfully replaced a 60-pound pump box which NASA suspected was the source of the leaking ammonia coolant. They found no evidence of the frozen ammonia flakes that had originally led them to the pump box. The astronauts also found no evidence of damage to the pump box.

The walk was hastily planned after ISS crew members alerted Mission Control about the leak on Thursday when they spotted "snowflakes" of frozen ammonia floating near the pump box. NASA says that it has been aware of a slow ammonia leak, but the rate had jumped to 5 pounds per day on Thursday.

The ammonia coursing through the plumbing is used to cool the space station's electronic equipment, according to the Associated Press. There are eight of these power channels, and all seven others were operating normally. As a result, life for the six space station residents was pretty much unaffected.

NASA's space station program manager Mike Suffredini said it's a mystery as to why the leak erupted on Thursday. One possibility is a micrometeorite strike.

By 1:20 p.m. Saturday, Cassidy and Marshburn were finished with the space walk, and were heading back to the airlock. They saw no sign of leaks coming from the new pump. NASA engineers continued to pressure check the system and be certain that the new pump is working properly.

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NASA astronauts fix leak on International Space Station

NASA astronauts fix leak on International Space Station (+video)

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Astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Christopher Cassidy conducted a spacewalk Saturday to fix an ammonia leak. They replaced a suspected faulty pump on the International Space Station.

UPDATED: 4:30 p.m., Saturday.

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition

As a nearly five-hour spacewalk Saturday morning drew to a close, the two astronauts replaced a suspected faulty pump in an effort to fix an ammonia coolant leak on the International Space Station.

Astronauts Thomas Marshburn and Christopher Cassidy began their spacewalk at 8:44 a.m. Saturday. The two successfully replaced a 60-pound pump box which NASA suspected was the source of the leaking ammonia coolant. They found no evidence of the frozen ammonia flakes that had originally led them to the pump box. The astronauts also found no evidence of damage to the pump box.

The walk was hastily planned after ISS crew members alerted Mission Control about the leak on Thursday when they spotted "snowflakes" of frozen ammonia floating near the pump box. NASA says that it has been aware of a slow ammonia leak, but the rate had jumped to 5 pounds per day on Thursday.

The ammonia coursing through the plumbing is used to cool the space station's electronic equipment, according to the Associated Press. There are eight of these power channels, and all seven others were operating normally. As a result, life for the six space station residents was pretty much unaffected.

NASA's space station program manager Mike Suffredini said it's a mystery as to why the leak erupted on Thursday. One possibility is a micrometeorite strike.

By 1:20 p.m. Saturday, Cassidy and Marshburn were finished with the space walk, and were heading back to the airlock. They saw no sign of leaks coming from the new pump. NASA engineers continued to pressure check the system and be certain that the new pump is working properly.

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NASA astronauts fix leak on International Space Station (+video)

NASA is hopeful that spacewalkers fixed space station's coolant leak

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Astronaut helmet camera captures video of NASA engineers Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn replacing a pump on International Space Station suspected of leaking ammonia.

By Tariq Malik, Space.com

Two spacewalking astronauts may have fixed an ammonia leak outside the International Space Station on Saturday, perhaps bringing the outpost's vital cooling system back up to full strength.

Clad in bulky spacesuits, NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn replaced a pump control box thought to be responsible for theleak of ammonia, which cools down the orbiting lab's systems. It looks like this fix did the trick, as no ammonia flakes were seen streaming into space when Mission Control turned on the newly installed gear.

"We're not seeing anything," Cassidy said at around 12:35 p.m. ET, several minutes after the pump was turned on. "No snow." [Emergency Spacewalk to Fix Space Station Leak in Photos]

NASA officials stopped short of declaring total victory, however, saying that time will tell if the fix holds.

"It will take some diagnostics, still, over the course of the next several days by the thermal systems specialists to fully determine that we have solved the problem of theammonia leak,"NASA spokesperson Rob Naviassaid during live mission commentary. "But so far, so good."

An emergency spacewalk Cassidy and Marshburn floated outside the space station at 8:44 a.m. ET Saturday, beginning what officials described as a six-hour detective's investigation to find and hopefully fix the ammonia leak.

Cassidy, who led the spacewalk, reported seeing "no smoking gun" as he and Marshburn began their inspection of the old ammonia pump control box, one of several on the space station's far left segment, known as the Port 6 truss. It is part of the cooling system for the two wing-like solar arrays extending from the Port 6 segment.

Upon removing the box, the spacewalkers still saw no signs of ammonia flakes.

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NASA is hopeful that spacewalkers fixed space station's coolant leak

NASA waits to see if space station coolant leak is fixed after spacewalk

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Astronaut helmet camera captures video of NASA engineers Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn replacing a pump on International Space Station suspected of leaking ammonia.

By Tariq Malik, Space.com

Two spacewalking astronauts may have fixed an ammonia leak outside the International Space Station on Saturday, perhaps bringing the outpost's vital cooling system back up to full strength.

Clad in bulky spacesuits, NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn replaced a pump control box thought to be responsible for theleak of ammonia, which cools down the orbiting lab's systems. It looks like this fix did the trick, as no ammonia flakes were seen streaming into space when Mission Control turned on the newly installed gear.

"We're not seeing anything," Cassidy said at around 12:35 p.m. ET, several minutes after the pump was turned on. "No snow." [Emergency Spacewalk to Fix Space Station Leak in Photos]

NASA officials stopped short of declaring total victory, however, saying that time will tell if the fix holds.

"It will take some diagnostics, still, over the course of the next several days by the thermal systems specialists to fully determine that we have solved the problem of theammonia leak,"NASA spokesperson Rob Naviassaid during live mission commentary. "But so far, so good."

An emergency spacewalk Cassidy and Marshburn floated outside the space station at 8:44 a.m. ET Saturday, beginning what officials described as a six-hour detective's investigation to find and hopefully fix the ammonia leak.

Cassidy, who led the spacewalk, reported seeing "no smoking gun" as he and Marshburn began their inspection of the old ammonia pump control box, one of several on the space station's far left segment, known as the Port 6 truss. It is part of the cooling system for the two wing-like solar arrays extending from the Port 6 segment.

Upon removing the box, the spacewalkers still saw no signs of ammonia flakes.

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NASA waits to see if space station coolant leak is fixed after spacewalk

NASA astronauts on spacewalk to fix ammonia leak

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WASHINGTON (AFP) - NASA astronauts performed an emergency spacewalk Saturday to halt an ammonia leak on the International Space Station but it will take weeks or months to determine whether the problem has been permanently fixed.

The spacewalk was successfully completed an hour ahead of schedule at 1814 GMT, five and a half hours after flight engineers Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy ventured outside the ISS.

During the maneuver, Marshburn and Cassidy attached a spare pump and flow control sub assembly box to replace the one suspected to be the source of an ammonia leak that affected the US segment of the orbiting laboratory on Thursday.

Ammonia is used to cool the station's power system.

The new pump was turned on about an hour later, and after about 30 minutes of careful observation by the astronauts and mission control, ISS commander Chris Hadfield of Canada tweeted: "No leaks! We're bringing Tom & Chris back inside."

Although the pump will continue to be observed through instruments, the early indications were positive that "we have climbed a big mountain on solving the ammonia leak," a commentator at mission control said on NASA television.

ISS flight director Joel Montalbano later told a press briefing the astronauts had done a "fantastic job."

"We're very happy, we didn't see any sign of leaks but it's going to take weeks to see if we did in fact stop the leak," Montalbano said.

Asked to put a timescale on when officials could be certain the problem had been repaired, Montalbano cautioned it could take several weeks.

"I expect it will take four weeks or five weeks, possibly longer before we have a real 100 percent characterization," he said.

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NASA astronauts on spacewalk to fix ammonia leak

NASA astronauts finish spacewalk

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NASA astronauts have replaced a pump during an emergency spacewalk to stop an ammonia leak at the International Space Station's power system, NASA television shows.

The spacewalk was successfully completed an hour ahead of schedule at 1814 GMT (0414 AEST Sunday) five and a half hours after flight engineers Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy ventured outside the space station.

During the manoeuvre, Marshburn and Cassidy attached a spare pump and flow control sub assembly box to replace the one suspected to be the source of an ammonia leak that affected the US segment of the orbiting laboratory on Thursday.

Ammonia is used to cool the station's power system.

The new pump was turned on about an hour later, and after about 30 minutes of careful observation by the astronauts and mission control, ISS commander Canadian Chris Hadfield tweeted: 'No leaks! We're bringing Tom Chris back inside.'

Although the pump will continue to be observed through instruments, the early indications were positive that 'we have climbed a big mountain on solving the ammonia leak,' a commentator at mission control said on NASA television.

But he cautioned that it will take several months of investigation and observation before it can be confirmed that the pump was 'the smoking gun' that caused the leak.

Before re-entering the space station, the astronauts took precautions against ammonia contamination, despite not seeing any evidence of it in the area around the space station.

That included an hour-long 'bake-off' to allow the sun to burn off any ammonia traces on their space suits.

Officials said the emergency spacewalk set a precedent because it was conducted at such short notice.

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NASA astronauts finish spacewalk

NASA astronauts end spacewalk to fix ammonia leak

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NASA astronauts performed an emergency spacewalk Saturday to halt an ammonia leak on the International Space Station but it will take weeks or months to determine whether the problem has been permanently fixed.

The spacewalk was successfully completed an hour ahead of schedule at 1814 GMT, five and a half hours after flight engineers Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy ventured outside the ISS.

During the maneuver, Marshburn and Cassidy attached a spare pump and flow control sub assembly box to replace the one suspected to be the source of an ammonia leak that affected the US segment of the orbiting laboratory on Thursday.

Ammonia is used to cool the station's power system.

The new pump was turned on about an hour later, and after about 30 minutes of careful observation by the astronauts and mission control, ISS commander Chris Hadfield of Canada tweeted: "No leaks! We're bringing Tom & Chris back inside."

Although the pump will continue to be observed through instruments, the early indications were positive that "we have climbed a big mountain on solving the ammonia leak," a commentator at mission control said on NASA television.

ISS flight director Joel Montalbano later told a press briefing the astronauts had done a "fantastic job."

"We're very happy, we didn't see any sign of leaks but it's going to take weeks to see if we did in fact stop the leak," Montalbano said.

Asked to put a timescale on when officials could be certain the problem had been repaired, Montalbano cautioned it could take several weeks.

"I expect it will take four weeks or five weeks, possibly longer before we have a real 100 percent characterization," he said.

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NASA astronauts end spacewalk to fix ammonia leak

NASA astronauts on spacewalk to fix leak

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NASA astronauts are performing an emergency spacewalk to try to stop ammonia from leaking from the International Space Station's power system, NASA television shows.

During the spacewalk, expected to last six and a half hours, flight engineers Tom Marshburn and Chris Cassidy will inspect and possibly repair the ammonia leak that affected the US segment of the orbiting laboratory on Thursday.

'Spacewalk under way to repair ammonia leak,' said the headline of a US space agency statement. Ammonia is used to cool the station's power system.

However the astronauts did not detect any signs of ammonia leaking into space in the first hour of their mission, NASA television said, adding that they 'have reported nothing out of the ordinary so far.'

Officials said the emergency spacewalk will set a precedent because it was being conducted at such short notice.

It will be the 168th excursion in support of the orbiting laboratory and the fourth for both Marshburn and Cassidy, who have worked together before.

ISS commander Chris Hadfield and Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov helped Marshburn and Cassidy suit up for the excursion, inspecting their gear and harnesses and making a series of elaborate checks.

'Good Morning, Earth! A complex vital day on Space Station,' Hadfield tweeted before the spacewalk began.

'Busy day!'

NASA has stressed that the lives of the multinational crew were not in danger, but both Russian and US space experts called the leak 'serious'.

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NASA astronauts on spacewalk to fix leak

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