Everything is fine, NASA says after ISS smell scare

NASA has said that the crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) is safe after reporting an “unexpected odor” emanating from a Russian cargo ship that docked over the weekend.

A routine Roscosmos mission delivering three tons of food, fuel, and supplies to the ISS quickly turned into a contamination scare after its unpiloted cargo ship Progress 90 docked with the station’s Poisk module at 9:31 a.m. EST on Saturday, November 23rd.

Russian cosmonauts aboard the ISS opened the hatch of the Progress craft but had to close it after detecting an unusual smell – and some droplets.

“After opening the Progress spacecraft's hatch, the Roscosmos cosmonauts noticed an unexpected odor and observed small droplets, prompting the crew to close the Poisk hatch to the rest of the Russian segment,” NASA said in a statement.

The Progress 90 cargo craft from Roscosmos docked during an automated procedure to the International Space Station's Poisk module at 9:31 a.m. EST on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. pic.twitter.com/E0EkDiJKmj

undefined International Space Station (@Space_Station) November 23, 2024

According to the agency, air scrubbers and contaminant sensors monitored the atmosphere on the ISS following the incident, and flight controllers in Houston mission control determined on Sunday that the air quality inside the station was at normal levels.

“There are no concerns for the crew, and as of Sunday afternoon, the crew is working to open the hatch between Poisk and Progress while all other space station operations are proceeding as planned,” NASA said.

NASA did not provide any additional details when contacted for an update.

Troubles in orbit

The independent website Russian Space Web painted a much more dramatic account of the incident. Citing communications between the US mission control in Houston and the ISS crew, it reported a “toxic” smell and “possible contamination hazard in the form of droplets.”

It said that the hatch between Poisk and Progress had to be closed immediately and various systems aboard the ISS were activated to scrub the station’s atmosphere from possible contamination.

The Russian crew reportedly donned protective equipment before activating an extra air-scrubbing system aboard their segment of the station for up to half an hour.

According to Russian Space Web, American astronaut Don Pettit also reported a “spray paint-like” substance in the Node 3 module of the US segment, but it was not immediately clear whether it was related to the Progress mission that launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan last week.

Earlier in November, NASA warned that a leak on the Russian Zvezda module, first identified in 2019, could lead to a “catastrophic failure” and put its commitment to operate the ISS through 2030 at risk.

Roscosmos downplayed the leak, saying it does not believe a “catastrophic disintegration… is realistic,” according to Bob Cabana, chair of NASA’s ISS Advisory Committee.

Along with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have also committed to operating the space station through 2030, while Russia said it would use it until at least 2028.

There are currently seven people aboard the ISS, including four NASA astronauts and three Roscosmos cosmonauts.