*MOSCOW – The International Space Station has reported a collision with ameteorite which has damaged the space station.*
* A “leak” has been caused most likely by a collision with a smallmeteorite, the head of the Russian space agency said, adding the incidentpresented no danger.*
“Overnight and in the morning there was an abnormal situation — a pressuredrop, an oxygen leak at the station,” Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin wasquoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
“A micro fracture was found, most likely it is damage from the outside. Thedesign engineers believe it is the result of a micrometeorite,” he said.
He said the fracture was found on the Soyuz ship that brought astronauts tothe ISS in June for a six-month mission and is currently docked with thespace station. The fracture will be patched from the inside, he said.
NASA confirmed the problem, saying it consisted of a “minute pressure leak”and that the crew was repairing it.
“The leak has been isolated to a hole about two millimetres in diameter”and slowed through application of thermoresistant tape, but a morepermanent solution was in development.