Russia reports a coolant leak in the space station's backup line, but the crew is unharmed

 Russia reports a coolant leak in the space station's backup line, but the crew is unharmed

The seven-member station crew is not in danger, according to NASA, and business as usual is being conducted.

Russian authorities said on Monday that coolant spilled from a backup line at the International Space Station, but they added that there was no danger to the crew or the station.

Coolant reportedly spilled from an exterior backup radiator for Russia's new scientific center, according to the Russian space agency Roscosmos. The government insisted that the lab's primary heat control system was operating properly.

According to Roscosmos, neither the crew nor the station are in any risk.

The seven-person station crew is not in danger, according to NASA, and business as usual is being conducted.

Engineers were looking into the source of the leak, according to Roscosmos. Following previous coolant leaks from Russian spacecraft docked at the station, the event occurred. The small meteoroids were blamed for the leaks.

In July 2021, the lab known as Nauku—which means science—arrived aboard the space station.

A Soyuz crew capsule docked to the station in December began to leak coolant, and a Progress supply ship in February started to do the same. According to a Russian assessment, the leaks were most likely caused by small meteoroids striking the equipment, not by design defects.

Because of the Soyuz leak, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and his two Russian crewmates, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, were in orbit for 371 days rather than the intended six months. For their return trip, a new capsule was sent to the station.

In the midst of the tensions over Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine, the space station, which has represented post-Cold War international collaboration, is now one of the few surviving areas of cooperation between Russia and the West. The orbiting station will likely remain in operation until 2030, according to NASA and its partners.

Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O'Hara of NASA, Andreas Mogensen of the European Space Agency, Konstantin Borisov, Oleg Kononenko, and Nikolai Chub of Russia, and Satoshi Furukawa of Japan are the current occupants.