THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 10, 2021 at 12:45 JST
In this photo taken by Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and provided by Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service, the International Space Station is seen from the Nauka module on Aug. 11. (Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service photo via AP)
MOSCOW--Smoke alarms went off at the Russian segment of the International Space Station in the early hours of Thursday, and the crew reported noticing smoke and the smell of burnt plastic.
Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said the incident took place in the Russian-built Zvezda module and occurred as the station’s batteries were being recharged.
According to Roscosmos, the crew activated air filters and returned to their “night rest” once the air quality was back to normal. The crew will proceed with a spacewalk Thursday as planned, the agency noted.
The space station is currently operated by NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur; Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov of Russia’s Roscosmos; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
Novitsky and Dubrov were scheduled to carry out a six-hour-long space walk to continue integrating the Russian-built Nauka science lab that docked with the space station in July. Shortly after docking, the lab briefly knocked the orbital outpost out of position by accidentally firing its engines--an incident Russian space officials blamed on a software failure.
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