Space: smoke in the Russian module of the international space station, the crew safe

Incident aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

"On September 9, at 4:55 a.m. Moscow time, a smoke detector went off in the Zvezda service module of the Russian segment of the ISS during the automatic charging of the battery and an alarm was triggered," said the Roscosmos space agency.

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Для устранения возможного задымления экипажем был включен агрегатный фильтр очистки атмосферы.

pic.twitter.com/BMvK7b8xah

- РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) September 9, 2021

According to the crew's interviews with Earth, broadcast by NASA and cited Thursday morning by the Ria Novosti agency, the crew also perceived smoke and unusual odors.

According to Ria, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet said a smell of burning plastic reached the American segment from the Russian part of the station due to the ventilation.

But according to Roscosmos, "all systems are functioning normally" and an atmospheric filter had been used "to eliminate possible pollution by fumes".

The crew then continued their night.

"The composition of the air on board the station corresponds to the standard parameters", specifies the Russian agency.

Last incident in a long series

In addition, the Russian space agency indicated that "the crew continues to train normally for the spacewalk" scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

This output should allow them to continue working on the connection of the power cable to integrate the new Russian scientific module Nauka (which docked at the end of July at the ISS) in a common power supply system and the laying of Ethernet cables. ".

В рамках работ по интеграции модуля # Наука наши космонавты снова выйдут в открытый космос: https://t.co/ilVz29emQ2

Они продолжат работы по подключению силового кабеля для интеграции модуля общую в систему энергоснабжения Ethernet и кабеля для интеграции "Науки» в кабельную сеть pic.twitter.com/ikXLsEBir9

- РОСКОСМОС (@roscosmos) September 9, 2021

The fact remains that this new incident, the last in a long series, comes after the Russian space company responsible for the maintenance of the Russian part of the ISS, judged at the end of August that it was in a worrying state with 80% flight systems at the “end of their service life”.

The Russian space industry has encountered many difficulties in recent years between failed launches and corruption scandals.

But it wants to relaunch itself with ambitious projects, such as building its own space station or a lunar base with China.

At the same time, cooperation with the United States is deteriorating against a backdrop of international tensions.