The International Space Station ISS photographed from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking, October 4, 2018. NASA Roscosmos Handout via REUTERS File Photo via NASA Roscosmos Handout
Moscow, Sept 9. Reuters - A smoke alarm was activated in a Russian unitary service module on the International Space Station ISS, Russian space agency Roscosmos reported on Thursday, and Russian news agencies reported that cosmonauts smelled burning plastic.
The Roscosmos news agency quoted the RIA news agency as saying all systems were later working correctly. Plans for space walk were still in force Thursday, the space agency said.
Roscosmos said a smoke detector and an alarm were set off on the Zvezda Service Module, which provides living quarters for crew members on the ISS, when batteries were being recharged overnight.
RIA, citing radio broadcasts by the U.S. Space Agency NASA, reported that Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky had seen and smelled smoke and that French astronaut Thomas Pesquet said the smell of burnt plastic or electronics had spread from the Russian segment to the U.S. section.
The orbital space station has suffered a number of recent mishaps.
Russian Space officials said a software glitch and a possible human attention lapse were causes the entire station to pitch out of its normal flight position 250 miles 400 km above Earth with seven crew members aboard in July.