ISS crew patched up the crack in Russian Zvezda module to stop the air leak, – Roscosmos press office reports.

Earlier in the course of communication session with the crew it was clear that Sergey Ryzhikov patched up the crack with the help of rubber and aluminum foil.

“Russian ISS crew members placed a new patch on the crack in Zvezda module, – the source said. – According to him following the results of check measurements and according to the data received from the crew the leak source will be eliminated.

A minor air leak was detected in September 2019. In August-September 2020 when the leak rate increased 5 times the crew sealed the ISS hatches twice to check its pressurization and stayed isolated in Russian segment for several days.

The leak source was located in the interchamber of Zvezda module. In October Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Wagner found a crack 4,5 sm in size. It was temporarily patched up with  thermal-resistant tape.

Roscmosmos reported that the crack is of no danger neither for the station nor for the crew and ground-based specialists are looking for the solution of this problem.

In November Russian ISS segment flight director stated that probably cargo vehicle to be launched in December would deliver nitrogen to restore the atmosphere aboard the ISS and some means to seal the crack. However the launch of Progress MS-16 cargo vehicle initially planned for December 11 was postponed to February 15,2021 due to necessity of additional testing.

Currently aboard the ISS are working Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, American astronauts Kathleen Rubins, Michael Hopkins and Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi.