Russia says leak on rocket will not affect return from ISS

[PfcHammer]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040428/sc_afp/russia_us_eu_space_iss_040428071838

Russia says leak on rocket will not affect return from ISS

Wed Apr 28, 3:18 AM ET Add Science - AFP to My Yahoo!

MOSCOW (AFP) - A small leak has been discovered on a Soyuz rocket that is due to bring three astronauts back to earth later this week but it does not pose a safety threat, Russia's mission control said.
"It will in no way affect the landing," a spokesman for mission control told AFP.

The leak is of helium, which under high pressure directs fuel into an engine that slows the rocket as it re-enters the atmosphere, RIA Novosti news agency quoted officials as saying. They did not explain how the gas was leaking out.

The Soyuz is due to return to earth from the International Space Station (news - web sites) (ISS) Friday. It will carry US astronaut Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kalery, who have been there since October 2003, and Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers, from the European Space Agency.

<more>