ISS crew to have ‘quiet weekend’ after fixing air leak
"The crew plans a quiet weekend before embarking on a busy schedule of research and routine maintenance work next week," NASA said.
Meanwhile, mission control centers in Russia's Korolev and US Houston keep monitoring the air pressure on the ISS and Soyuz after the leak had been fixed.
A pressure drop was registered on the International Space Station overnight to August 30. It was subsequently found that the pressure was dropping due to a 2mm fracture in the hull of the Russian manned Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft docked to the orbital outpost.
Russia's Mission Control Center instructed Russian cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Sergei Prokopyev to plug the hole in the space vehicle with the epoxy-based sealant.
The work was accomplished on Thursday evening. After that, the Russian cosmonauts made photos and video records of the hole and monitored its condition and pressure on the space station every hour. On Friday, another layer of sealant was added. According to Roscosmos's data, pressure on the orbital outpost is holding stable after the repairs.