Russia says leak on rocket will not affect return from ISS

MOSCOW (AFP) Apr 28, 2004
A small leak has been discovered on a Soyuz rocket that is due to bring three astronauts back to earth later this week but it does not pose a safety threat, Russia's mission control said Wednesday.

"It will in no way affect the landing," a spokesman for mission control told AFP.

The leak is of helium, which under high pressure directs fuel into an engine that slows the rocket as it re-enters the atmosphere, RIA Novosti news agency quoted officials as saying. They did not explain how the gas was leaking out.

US space agency NASA also said there was no safety threat.

"There is no issue," Debra Rahn, NASA spokeswoman, told AFP. "There is more than enough helium in the system to perform the de-orbit burn safely."

The Soyuz is due to return to earth from the International Space Station (ISS) Friday. It will carry US astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kalery, who have been there since October 2003, and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers, from the European Space Agency.

Kuipers arrived at the ISS on April 21 with US astronaut Edward Michael Fincke and Russia's Gennady Padalka, who are due to remain at the station until October 2004.

SPACE.WIRE