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| S P E C I A L | Repairing Mir |
Hatch on Russia's Mir leaking, astronauts not in danger
November 4, 1997
Web posted at: 4:34 a.m. EST (0934 GMT)MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russia's cosmonauts failed to close one of outer hatches on the Mir station properly when they returned from a spacewalk on Monday, a Mission Control spokeswoman said on Monday.
But they closed an inner door without problems and the air pressure in the main section of the station was normal, she said by telephone.
Commander Anatoly Solovyov and engineer Pavel Vinogradov would use the same route when they made another spacewalk scheduled for Thursday and inspect the failed hatch.
"The situation is normal and does not affect anything," the spokeswoman said.
Solovyov and Vinogradov passed through the Kvant scientific module, one of half a dozen that make up the station, to make their six-hour sortie on Monday. She said it had three airtight compartments.
"When they came in (one of the airlocks) they tried to equalize the air pressure but found it was impossible," the Mission Control spokeswoman said.
"They realized the hatch had not closed airtight." When they realized that the outer hatch was not airtight, they were told by Mission Control to pass on to the second section and seal it, which they did.
Mir has been plagued with a series of mishaps following a collision, on June 25, with a cargo ship which holed another of the station's scientific modules, Spektr. Monday's walk was part of a lengthy series of repairs.
American astronaut David Wolf is also on board Mir.
Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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