WEEKS LATER, NASA STILL CAN’T FIND HOLE IN SPACE STATION

Plugging The Hole

There’s a hole on the International Space Station, allowing air to leak out — and NASA is still having trouble tracking it down.

The situation isn’t nearly as dire as it sounds. In fact, the leak was first spotted almost exactly a year ago, as Business Insider reports. But finding it has dragged on, and on, and on.

No Reason To Worry

A bit of air leaking out the space station is to be expected, NASA says, and requires occasional top ups from nitrogen tanks delivered on cargo resupply missions to the station.

On August 20, NASA released a statement about an ongoing investigation into the small air leak, taking pains to note that the three current crew members weren’t in immediate danger. Yet the three were asked to spend a weekend inside the Russian segment of the station as scientists back on Earth tried to track down the source of the leak.

By August 24, the situation hadn’t changed. The crew had to spend another night in the Russian segment, according to NASA.

Still Investigating

Now, September has rolled around and NASA still hasn’t located the source of the leak.

Data is still being collected about the leak, as NASA spokesman Daniel Huot told Business Insider on Tuesday, adding that teams on the ground should complete their review “in the coming days.”

“The leak rate is still stable and well below the design specifications for the station and presents no concern for crew or vehicle safety,” Huot added.

INDIA’S SPACE CHIEF: WE FOUND OUR LANDER MONTHS BEFORE NASA

Taking Credit

Back in September, the Indian Space Research Organization announced that it had found its Vikram lander, which it had lost contact with days earlier as it prepared to land on the Moon — and said it was trying to reestablish contact with the lost lander.

Months later, NASA made a similar announcement: that it had spotted the wreckage of the lander, with the help of amateur space enthusiast Shanmuga “Shan” Subramanian, who analyzed images taken by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Now, it seems as though ISRO’s leadership feels that NASA is getting too much credit for the discovery.

“After the landing date itself, our website had given that our own orbiter has located Vikram,” ISRO chief Kailasavadivoo Sivan told reporters on Wednesday, as quoted by India Today. “Our own orbiter had located Vikram lander. We had already declared that on our website, you can go back and see.”

Located Again

Is that a fair analysis? It’s open to interpretation.

NASA didn’t claim it was the first to spot the lander, and to be fair, India seemed pretty hazy in September about whether its lander had crashed or landed but lost contact.

The clearest takeaway: India’s crashed lander was a disappointment, so maybe its leadership is looking for distraction.