The US and Russia will today discuss what has described as a 'very serious' leak from the International Space Station (ISS).
News of the ammonia leak first came last night after Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield tweeted details.
It is a serious situation, but between crew and experts on the ground, it appears to have been stabilized. Tomorrow we find out for certain.
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) May 9, 2013
Commander Hadfield reported the ammonia leak to Mission Control in Houston:
Ammonia is used to cool the power system of the station but NASA says the crew is in no immediate danger.
Russian officials say the astronauts may need to venture outside the ISS and into open space to fix the problem.
In a statement NASA says at around 10:30 a.m. CDT on Thursday the crew reported seeing small white flakes floating away from an area of the International Space Station’s truss structure. The crew used handheld cameras and Mission Control used external television cameras to gain additional imagery in an attempt to narrow down the leak’s location.
The crew reports, along with imagery and data received confirmed that the rate of the ammonia leaking from this section of the cooling system has increased.
But it says the station continues to operate normally and the crew is in no danger. Plans are being developed to reroute other power channels and other systems normally controlled by the solar array that is cooled by this loop.
Watch LIVE footage from the ISS below:
