'Urgent situation' on International Space Station as cooling system fails with six astronauts aboard
- All astronauts are safe and were never in danger, NASA says
- Two American, three Russians and a Japanese astronaut are aboard the Space Station
- Emergency space walk could be required to fix the problem
- Currently only critical systems are operating
By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 23:21 GMT, 11 December 2013 | UPDATED: 23:20 GMT, 12 December 2013
NASA ground control is scrambling to fix an 'urgent situation' on the International Space Station after a cooling system failed with six astronauts aboard.
NASA reported the problem about 5.45pm EST after the integral system stopped working.
Initial reports indicate the crew of the $150billion space lab are safe.
However, an emergency space walk may be necessary to repair the coolant leak, NBC News reports.
Two Americans are among the six crew members. They are Rick Mastraccio, a 53-year-old mission specialist with a background in engineering, and Mike Hopkins, a 44-year-old U.S. Air Force Colonel.
Also aboard are Russians Mikhail Tyurin, Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy and Japanese engineer Koichi Wakata.
The six members of Expedition 38 are currently aboard the station. They are: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
(JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata (left), flight engineer; and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov, commander. Pictured from
the left (back row) are Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, Russian cosmonaut Sergey
Ryazanskiy and NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins, all flight engineers
...more at link
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... board.html
