Nasa: Space station Astronauts not in danger

Astronauts hurriedly evacuated the US section of the International Space Station and moved to its Russian module after a coolant problem emerged, but Russian and US officials insist all six crew were not in any danger.

“The space station crew is safe,” Nasa spokesman Bob Jacobs said.

An alarm indicating a possible ammonia leak in the cooling system prompted the crew to leave and seal off the American module, but further testing had Nasa officials thinking it was just a sensor problem, Nasa spokesman Mike Curie said.

But the crew planned to finish its work day in the Russian segment and sleep there overnight out of caution, Mr Curie said.

There is enough room and food for the Astronauts to stay there a week but that is not likely to be necessary.

The high profile former space station Astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield commented frequently today on developments

Space situation for now: 4 men & 2 women in 1/4 the space sharing Russian food & 1 toilet for at least a day. Houston's making a safe plan.

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) January 14, 2015

The two space agencies - Nasa and Russian counterpart Roscosmos - differed on exactly what had occurred as the station orbited about 400 kilometres (250 miles) above the Earth.

While the Russian space agency said there was a coolant leak, the US said in a statement on its online Nasa station there was still “no concrete data that suggests that there was, in fact, an ammonia leak”.

Russia’s Tass news agency said just about one-third of ammonia was left in the coolant system at the US module and the rest had leaked out.

It quoted Roscosmos chief Oleg Ostapenko as saying the situation was still being examined but an “evacuation (of the entire station) is not on the agenda”.

Nasa said the astronauts evacuated to the Russian module as a precaution.

“We saw an increase in water loop pressure, then later saw a cabin-pressure increase that could be indicative of an ammonia leak in the worst-case scenario,” Mr Jacobs said.

“So we protected for the worst-case scenario and isolated the crew in the Russian segment of the space station while the teams are evaluating the situation.”

The space outpost is now manned by Nasa astronauts Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts, Russians Elena Serova, Alexander Samoukutyaev and Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.