The STS-88 crew captured the Russian-built Zarya space module on Dec. 6, 1998. It was launched on Nov. 20, 1998. They then mated it to the Unity node.
According to a new report, small cracks were found in the Zarya module of the International Space Station.
Vladimir Solovyov (chief engineer at Moscow-based Energia), the prime contractor for Russia’s human spaceflight program, said that superficial fissures were found in certain places on the Zarya Module. Reuters reported this today (Aug. 30, 2017). This is a bad sign that the fissures could spread in time.
Solovyov didn't say whether cracks discovered by Russian cosmonauts have caused air to leak from Zarya, Russian for "Dawn"), Reuters reported.
Related: Building the International Space Station (photos).
Zarya, also known by the FCB (shorthand for "Functional Cargo Block") is part of the International Space Station (ISS) Russian segment. It was launched in November 1998 and became the first piece of station to orbit.
Cracks on the ISS have been detected before. Since November 2000, the rotating crews of astronauts have been occupying it continuously. A small leakage on the orbiting laboratory was caused by fissures in Zvezda's Russian Zvezda module. This leak was discovered in September 2019. Cosmonauts repaired the Zvezda cracks in October 2021 and March 2020, but the problem has not resolved. Russia reported last month a pressure drop in its Zvezda module, which was launched to Earth orbit in July 2000.
(ISS controllers also noticed an air leak in August 2018, but soon discovered that it was due to a hole in a Russian Soyuz satellite. It is not clear how the hole got there. Experts agree that it was likely caused by human error, but a Russian space official tried to blame Serena AunChancellor, a NASA astronaut. NASA officials claim that this charge is unfounded.
July 2021 saw Russia's long-awaited Nauka science module arrive at the ISS. The meeting did not go according to plan. Nauka's thrusters exploded shortly after docking. This caused the station to spin around 540 degrees. The situation was eventually managed by ISS managers and the orbiting laboratory returned to its normal orientation.
