Air leak patched at space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Astronauts scrambled Thursday to patch a tiny hole in a Russian capsule that was allowing air to leak from the International Space Station.

NASA and Russian space officials stressed the six astronauts were in no danger.

The leak was detected Wednesday night — possibly from a micrometeorite strike — when it caused a small drop in cabin pressure. It was traced to a hole about two millimetres across in a Soyuz capsule docked at the space station.

Thursday morning, the crew taped over the hole, slowing the leak. Later, the two Russian spacemen put sealant on a cloth and stuck it over the area, while their colleagues took photos for engineers on the ground. Flight controllers, meanwhile, monitored the cabin pressure while working to come up with a better long-term solution.

Mission Control outside Moscow told the astronauts to let the sealant dry overnight and that more leak checks would be conducted today. The makeshift repairs seem to have stabilized the situation, at least for now, officials said. Earlier, flight controllers tapped into the oxygen supply of a Russian cargo capsule to partially replenish the atmosphere in the station.

The leaking Soyuz — one of two up there — arrived at the orbiting lab in June with three astronauts. It’s their ride home, too, come December, and also serves as a lifeboat in case of an emergency.