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Journalism of Courage
MOSCOW, July 6: A senior official at mission control has confirmed the mystery leak from the damaged Spektr science module on Russia’s Mir space station five days ago, but said experts were sure it was not fuel.
“Only one thing is clear it was not fuel,” a senior communications specialist informed Saturday on condition that he not be identified. “Apart from that no one has an answer yet to this mystery.”
Veteran astronaut Frank Culbertson, who runs the US NASA space agency’s missions to mir, said earlier in the US there had been an as yet unexplained incident and that experts were concerned.
“We are very concerned about what was in that module, what might have ruptured, and what the impact might be on the suited crew members,” he said.
The Russian specialist said: “Five days ago, in one of our communications with the crew, we were told they had seen flakes and bubbles from an unknown source leaking from the Spektr module.”
The leak had been into space rather than inside, and there had been no repeat since that single incident.
