back to article TERROR in SPACE: ISS 'NAUTS FLEE 'gas leak' to Russian module

The US section of the International Space Station has been evacuated due to the detection of "harmful emissions". The Russian Federal Space agency said a leak from the cooling system took place around 11.44 MSK (7:44 GMT). "Currently, the US segment of the ISS is isolated, the crew is safe and is located on the Russian segment …

  1. WraithCadmus

    Big Three?

    What are the Big Three Hadfield is talking about?

    At a guess, these are three things you do not want to have happen in space, what are they? Loss of power, loss of atmosphere, and fire?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Big Three?

      Xenomorphs/Tribbles being one of them.

      Possibly.

      1. Crisp

        Re: Big Three?

        I'd rather be up against a Tribble than a Xenomorph.

      2. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

        Re: Big Three?

        Polymorph surely?

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

          Re: Big Three?

          Moties. All classes.

          1. Martin-73 Silver badge

            Re: Big Three?

            But especially not watchmakers...

    2. Pet Peeve

      Re: Big Three?

      Presumably, the big three gases that you don't want running around in station air. I would guess CO2, Hydrogen, and Ammonia.

    3. Scott 26

      Re: Big Three?

      > What are the Big Three Hadfield is talking about?

      They are right in his blog.... wasn't hard to find:

      http://colchrishadfield.tumblr.com/post/108081273658/emergency-on-the-space-station-this-morning-high

      "If it breaks through to the inside it is one of the big 3 emergencies. The other two we train for are fire/smoke & contaminated atmosphere/medical. "

  2. Extra spicey vindaloo
    Joke

    They need some kind of hazmat suit with integrated oxygen to go and check it out, do you think those clever nasa boys might be able to find something, anything, that they could use as a hazmat suit?

    ;-)

    1. JDX Gold badge

      They probably store them in their side of the ISS.

      1. BristolBachelor Gold badge
        Joke

        Nah; don't want to use the ones in the US side of the station - might drown using one of those (apart from having to open the door to get to it). Better to use a Rusky suit; but that means sending a cosmonaut (oh the horror!).

        1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

          Why not open the hatch and take a sniff?

          The smell of ammonia is hard to ignore.

          1. Jonathan Richards 1
            Boffin

            Oo! Oo! Eyewitness account!

            No, not from the space station emergency, but apropos the suggestion to take a sniff. In a chemistry lab far, far, away, and in a time long, long ago when hazardous materials were still allowed to be in the same space as children, I saw a chemistry master (who was generally very careful [1]) make a stupid mistake. During a demonstration, he reached for a reagent bottle, expecting it to be some solvent or other, and took a sniff to confirm. Turns out, it was concentrated ammonia solution, and one little sniff quite literally knocked him backwards. Moral: you really don't want to get NH3 up your nose.

            [1] This was the same man who taught us the correct way to do an olfactory sampling: hold the material some distance away from you, and using a cupped hand gently waft a little of the air over it towards your nose: don't draw breath deeply: you might not want that stuff down in your lungs.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What?!

    Beans again?!!! When will those yanks ever learn...

    1. WraithCadmus
      Mushroom

      Re: What?!

      Didn't the last supply run contain delayed Christmas goods?

      This must be the sprouts at work.

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
        Mushroom

        Re: What?!

        Mmmmmm. SPROUTS IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      2. Mark 85

        Re: What?!

        Or the fruitcake from 5 years ago sitting in the bottom of the storage bin.

    2. jai

      Re: What?!

      I had a vision of the Blazin' Saddles scene, but with everyone wearing astronaut helmets

  4. adnim
    Joke

    Listening to Fox News?

    See title

  5. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Coat

    SpaceX

    Your takeaway curry delivery service.

    Just wafting the coat tales and blaming the dog.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: SpaceX

      Coattails, shirley?

      1. Zog_but_not_the_first
        Facepalm

        Re: SpaceX

        Indeed. Rapid typing - my only (poor) excuse.

  6. Pete 2 Silver badge

    You can't get to there from here

    > The station is split into two sectors: the Russian segment and the United States segment

    So, which segment has access to the escape pod?

    1. Voland's right hand Silver badge

      Re: You can't get to there from here

      The russian one. Soyuz attaches to any of the russian modules (multiple attachment points). Not sure where it is attached now.

      1. phuzz Silver badge

        Re: You can't get to there from here

        There'll be two Soyuz attached right now, as there's six crew on board, and you can only just fit three people in one.

        It does beg the question of what they'd do if there was a problem in the Russian segment.

        1. ravenviz Silver badge
          Trollface

          Re: You can't get to there from here

          They'd have to do a bit of EVA. Like in films.

          1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
            Trollface

            Re: You can't get to there from here

            The connecting tunnel between the Russian and US sector is called "The Ukraine", not sure why.

            1. Jonathan Richards 1
              Joke

              Re: You can't get to there from here

              Whereas it ought to be called Checkpoint Charlie.

          2. Trigonoceps occipitalis

            Re: You can't get to there from here

            They'd have to do a bit of CGI. Like in films.

            FTFY

        2. imanidiot Silver badge

          Re: You can't get to there from here

          If there's a problem in the russian section they retreat into the Soyuz capsules. Until the US has a man-rated ship capable of docking to the US side, a problem on the russian side means abandoning the station until a repair can be bodged together from the outside or by spacewalking from a soyuz to the US side airlock.

  7. JassMan

    True for the whole world

    "Harmful emissions detected on American segment"

    And now they want want to make sure the whole of Europe suffers from GMOed, over-hormoned, agricultural produce with no flavour by corrupting our governments with the promise of benefits from TAFTA, TTIP etc.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: True for the whole world

      You forget the ubiquitous taste of chicken.

  8. Simon Harris

    Big Bang

    Howard's space toilet's on the blink again.

  9. Thomas Gray

    Faulty sensor?

    Is it an AE-35 unit?

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  10. Florida1920
    1. BristolBachelor Gold badge

      Re: Space Station Updates

      At the top the page just tells me Loading..... for ever. Lower down I thought that the latest news is/was/will be from 1st October 2015? :)

      I read elsewhere that nothing actually detected bad stuff, but a cooling water pressure increase, followed by air-pressure increase suggested the possibility of an amonia leak.

      1. Florida1920

        Re: Space Station Updates

        At the top the page just tells me Loading..... for ever.

        Using NoScript, the only script I'm allowing on that page is nasa.gov. I sure hope non-U.S. IPs aren't being blocked, but it wouldn't surprise me.

        1. Martin-73 Silver badge

          Re: Space Station Updates

          You may need to allow usa.gov too Working fine here from the UK

          (I temporarily allowed all this page)

          1. Jonathan Richards 1
            Black Helicopters

            Re: Permissions

            > You may need to allow usa.gov too. Working fine here from the UK

            Posted about javascript, but relevant on just so many levels...

  11. Any mouse Cow turd

    failsafe

    I thought the whole space industry matra was multiple redundancy. How come they they only seem to have a single sensor which may or may not be giving a dodgy reading?

    1. BristolBachelor Gold badge
      Facepalm

      Re: failsafe

      It is. Imagine that "something" is dangerous. Now think that if you only put 1 sensor and it doesn't work. If the "something" bad happens, everyone dies.

      So you would put more than one. Now what do you so if 1 sensor says that "something" has happened? You play fail safe. After all maybe the something is only detectable in one location, or maybe your redundant sensor has failed.

      Let me ask you a question. If somebody pushes the fire alarm button in your company(/school/whatever), do you evacuate, or wait until every single fire alarm button is pressed?

      1. Rabbit80

        Re: failsafe

        "Let me ask you a question. If somebody pushes the fire alarm button in your company(/school/whatever), do you evacuate, or wait until every single fire alarm button is pressed?"

        We had a fire alarm test just last week on our site (specifically to test peoples reactions).. Results: 20% of people evacuated, of those 90% returned to their offices before being given the all clear...

  12. chivo243 Silver badge

    Ruskies and Americans in space

    Maxim Brajlovsky: Easy as cake, huh?

    Walter Curnow: Pie. Easy as pie.

  13. wolfetone Silver badge

    It's always the way...

    The Russians are useless potato farmers, until something built in America breaks.

  14. This post has been deleted by its author

  15. Mark 85

    Sensor failure or equipment failure?

    American components, Russian Components, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!

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