A mysterious metallic crushing noise has been heard by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), a spokesman for Russia's space agency said on Thursday."The noise resembled a can being crushed," Sergei Gorbunov, spokesman for the Rosaviakosmos space agency, said.
"The cosmonauts carried out checks but found no damage to the space station's exterior and no change in air pressure," Gorbunov was quoted by NTV as saying.
The ISS was launched in 1998 as a collaboration between 16 partners including the United States, Russia, the European Union, Japan and Canada.
The station is currently inhabited by two crew, American Michael Foale and Russian Alexander Kaleri, who arrived on board last month and are due to return to earth next April.
The unidentified noise appears to have come from a Russian-built section of the station not occupied by the crew, Gorbunov said.
Last month a group of dissenting NASA scientists told The Washington Post that a growing array of hardware problems was preventing checks on the quality of air, water and radiation levels aboard the ISS.
Russia has been the only country providing transport to the ISS since the United States grounded its shuttle program following the Columbia disaster of February this year.
All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
Quick Links
SpaceDaily
Search SpaceDaily
Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express
Nov 02, 2006
Discovery Rolls Toward LaunchA Mission To Mars Part TwoChinese Lunar Orbiter Prototype On Display At Air ShowShuttle Astronauts to Install Ball Aerospace Instruments Aboard Hubble Space TelescopeMikulski Applauds Hubble Announcement, Says Decision Is Right For AmericaTo The Dawn Of SpaceLost In Space No MoreOxygen Regeneration Restored At ISSISRO Moots Manned Mission To SpaceIndigenous Cryogenic Stage Successfully TestedLAUNCH Becomes First Magazine For Hobby Rocketry And Commercial Space Travel EnthusiastsNASA Gives Hubble Telescope A New Lease On LifeShape Of Things To Come-On The MoonIran To Step-Up Sensitive Nuclear ActivitiesNorth Korea To Rejoin Talks On Nuclear ProgramChina The Anti-Superpower Or The Second HyperpowerBush Says China Saving Too Much MoneyExplosion Blows Out Window At Paypal In Silicon ValleyArctic Snap Wreaks Havoc Across Nordic RegionGlobal Map Shows New Patterns Of Extinction RiskMicrobes Compete With Animals For Food By Making It StinkMore Species In The Tropics Because Life Has Been There LongerScientists Setting Dollar Value For EcosystemCzech Temelin Nuclear Reactor Hit By Fuel ProblemMost Lakes Across China Polluted Or Emptied Out By HumansUK To Push India And EU Over Climate Change ResponseWhite House Dismisses Chart Of Iraq Sliding Toward ChaosIraq Not Lost YetRed Cross Unveils Mass Southern Africa AIDS ProjectChina's Dirty Secret
