NASA Astronauts on Spacewalk Encounter Toxic Ammonia Leak

First Posted: Nov 07, 2015 08:12 AM EST

During a spacewalk at the International Space Station, NASA astronauts found leaking ammonia while performing plumbing work. In addition, the astronauts fell so far behind that they had to leave a radiator job undone.

Highly toxic ammonia is used to cool electronics on the ISS. However, this cooling system has been plagued by problems.

Kjell Lindgren and Scott Kelly were about two hours into their planned spacewalk when they noticed the ammonia flakes spewing out. As long as they were outside, any potential suit contamination wasn't cause for concern. However, before going back in they would have to make sure any traces of ammonia had been removed by the sun.

The goal of the spacewalk was to complete the final repairs to a system that broke down about three years ago by restoring the external ammonia cooling system to its original configuration; in 2012, NASA found a major leak in the ammonia cooling system. Astronauts replaced the ammonia pump on the station's truss in May 2013. After replacing the pump, NASA decided to undo jury-rigged repairs made to the leaking cooling system and restore the radiator system to its original setup.

In this case, the ammonia leak slowed down the astronauts so much that they didn't complete the work.

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TagsNASA, NASA’s, international space station, ISS, Astronaut, Astronauts, Spacewalk