The pressure in the intermediate chamber of the "Star" module of the Russian segment of the ISS continues to decline. About this cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov reported during negotiations with the center of flight management. According to him, the pressure in the intermediate chamber in the morning on Saturday was 678 millimeters of mercury pillars. Although on Friday it was 730 millimeters of mercury pillar.
Recall, last week Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-carchkov held work in the "Star" module, where there were previous places of leaks. Works agreed with NASA specialists.
Ryzhikov delivered several layers of sealant and set a lining on one of the cracks. On this Tuesday, members of the crew of the Russian segment of the ISS began work on another detected crack. On Thursday, Energia "Energia" reported on the completion of repair and restoration work on the "Star" housing.
In recent months, the Russian segment of the ISS is often faced with various types of technical problems. They concern not only air leakage. So, in January, it became known about the failure of the air conditioning system SC-2 (the second such system continued to work in normal mode).
October was remembered by an incident with the smoke of equipment, which occurred during the experiment "Constant". The problem of the problem wounded in the experimental control unit.
In both cases, the threats for the life and health of the cosmonauts were not, however, they once again gave rise to discussions about the future of the Russian ISS segment. We will remind, now it is largely due to the new Module "Science", which, after numerous shifts, want to run to the station in July 2021. The resource of the module will provide the Russian segment of existence until 2030.
On the other hand, there is no guarantee that the station itself will be operated so long. Now the Americans and their partners are working on the draft conditional alternative to the ISS - the lunar orbital station Gateway, which is seen one of the tools for disembarking astronauts to the surface of the moon. At different times, Russia and the United States conducted negotiations on the joint construction of a new station, but now, how much can be judged, they went into a dead end.
The first station modules can run in 2024. About what will represent Gateway, you can read in our material.
Source: Naked Science