- Title: SPACE/RUSSIA: COSMONAUTS REPAIR LEAKING PIPELINE ON BOARD MIR SPACE STATION
- Date: 3rd November 1995
- Summary: IN SPACE AND MOSCOW, RUSSIA (NOVEMBER 3, 1995) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) IN SPACE 1. GV INT. EUROMIR CREW ON BOARD 0.06 2. GV INT. SPACE SHIP (POOR VISABILITY) 0.16 3. SV COOLING SYSTEM ABOARD VESSEL (3 SHOTS) 0.30 4. CU LEAKING SECTION - COOLING LIQUID BUBBLING ON SURFACE/ZOOM OUT/CU BUBBLING STOPS (5 SHOTS) 0.50 MOSCOW, RUSSIA 5. SV INTERVIEW WITH ESA REPRESENTATIVE ALAIN FOURNIER-SICRE, SAYING EUROMIR CREW ARE CAPABLE OF SOLVING PROBLEMS ABOARD VESSEL (ENGLISH) 1.37 6. MCU PLAN OF COOLING SYSTEM OF EUROMIR 1.42 SEQ.5: TRANSCRIPT: FOURNIER-SICRE: "OF COURSE, WE HAVE PEOPLE ON BOARD WHO CAN VERY ACTIVELY AND EFFICIENTLY SEARCH FOR WHERE THE PROBLEM IS. THE ASTRONAUTS ARE VERY USEFUL ON BOARD AS WELL FOR THIS TASK. THEY ARE USED TO MAKE SOME REPAIRS ON BOARD. THEY WILL FOR INSTANCE, WHEN THEY COME FROM SHUTTLE, GET SOME PIPING, IN ORDER TO MAKE A REAL REPAIR AND THEY WILL MAKE THE REAL REPAIR. I REPEAT THERE ARE COOLING LOOPS ALL OVER THE STATION. IT IS NOT BECAUSE ONE IS SWITCHED OFF NOW, THAT THERE IS A BIG PROBLEM. THERE IS A INTERNAL ..ER .. REDUNDANCY... ESPECIALLY FOR THIS SYSTEM OF COURSE." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 18th November 1995 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: IN SPACE AND MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- City:
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVA8KJT6H7EJQ7CLOS63VDWCPSOT
- Story Text: Cosmonauts have patched together repairs to a leaking pipe on the orbiting Mir space station, but the fault, 11 days before Mir docks with the U.S. Shuttle, highlights the problems facing the Russian space programme.
Officials at Mission Control said on Friday (November 3) the leak to Mir's cooling system was "a very insignificant failure" which had been quickly repaired.
A representative of the Paris based European Space Agency (ESA), Alain Fournier-Sicre, said in Moscow on Friday the leak of the cooling system on board of the Euromir mission represented no real threat to the crew's lives.
Mir, which has been in orbit since 1986, is due to dock with the Shuttle on November 14, and the two crews will spend three days together.
The two craft last docked in the summer and both sides said the venture had opened a new era of cooperation which will lead to the construction of a permanently manned orbiting space station, to be called Alpha.
The problems to the Mir cooling system were the latest in a series of minor faults to dog the cramped structure, which is showing signs of age after almost a decade of use.
Cosmonauts battled against the clock to repair a solar cell battery outside the station before the last docking, staying in space for longer than the recommended period and almost running out of air.
Financial problems have also taken their toll on Mir.
A Russian company making food for cosmonauts said last month it was on the brink of bankruptcy and warned that Mir crews might go hungry soon.
The current crew aboard Mir -- two Russians and a German cosmonaut -- will spend almost two months more than expected in space and Russian officials have said the delay is due to the fact that the rocket to take them home has not been built.
Officials from the ESA, which is partially funding the mission, say the longer stay will give the cosmonauts more time to carry out experiments.
The three-man crew, which includes Germany's Thomas Reiter, has been in space since September 3. They are due to return to earth on February 29.
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