Moscow (AFP)

Smoke and a smell of burning plastic were detected in the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS), Roscosmos said, assuring the crew were safe and a spacewalk was maintained.

"On September 9 at 4:55 am Moscow time, a smoke detector went off in the Zvezda service module of the Russian segment of the ISS during the automatic battery change and an alarm was triggered," said in a Roscosmos press release.

The Russian space agency clarified that an atmospheric filter was used "to eliminate possible smoke pollution" and that the crew then continued their night.

"All the systems are functioning normally," reassured Roscosmos, adding that "the crew continues to train normally for the spacewalk" scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

This new incident, the last in a long series, comes after the Russian space company responsible for the maintenance of the Russian part of the ISS, judged at the end of August that it was in a worrying state with 80% of the systems. of flight at the "end of their service life".

According to the crew's interviews with Earth, broadcast by NASA and cited Thursday morning by the Ria Novosti agency, an alarm went off in the Russian Zvezda module and the crew noticed smoke and unusual odors .

According to Ria, French astronaut Thomas Pesquet said a smell of burning plastic reached the American segment from the Russian part of the station due to the ventilation.

Two cosmonauts, Oleg Novitsky and Piotr Doubrov, must make an extra-vehicular outing on Thursday in order to continue the integration work of the new Russian scientific module Nauka, which docked at the end of July at the ISS, after almost 15 years of delays and technical setbacks.

The Russian space industry has encountered many difficulties in recent years between failed launches and corruption scandals.

But it wants to relaunch itself with ambitious projects, such as building its own space station or a lunar base with China.

Cooperation with the United States is deteriorating against a backdrop of international tensions.

© 2021 AFP