Space station leak traced

The leak which caused air pressure to drop on the International Space Station was caused by the malfunction of a valve that disposes of extra pressure, Russian space officials said today.

The leak has caused the pressure to drop steadily since late December, raising fears about the safety of the Anglo-American astronaut and Russian cosmonaut onboard the orbiting space lab.

Sergei Gorbunov, spokesman for Rosaviakosmos, the Russian Aerospace Agency, said that one of the valves used to get rid of extra air pressure was identified as the source of the problem. With the leak identified, the astronauts should be able to fix it, he said.

“The problem will be completely solved within the next few days,” he said.

Gorbunov said that the drop in pressure had stabilised. Russian news media reported that the faulty valve was located on the American portion of the station.

Michael Foale, from Cambridge, and Russian Alexander Kaleri are due to remain on board the station until the end of April. They arrived in October as the eighth set of full-time residents.

Nasa has reduced the number of space station residents from three to two for the foreseeable future because of the grounding of the shuttle fleet in the wake of the Columbia disaster.