MOSCOW, June 18 (RIA Novosti) – Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have opened the hatch of a newly docked supply ship carrying more than 6.5 metric tons of cargo after a delay due to fears over bacteria, the European Space Agency (ESA) said Tuesday.
The hatch opening of the ATV-4 Albert Einstein supply ship, which delivered water, oxygen, food, fuel and equipment to the space station, was delayed on Monday due to possible "mold and bacteria contamination on three cargo bags that are inside the spacecraft,” the Spaceflight101 news site reported.
“The crew just reported that the ATV hatch is open,” the ESA said Tuesday in a statement, adding that the astronauts were taking air samples inside the craft for later analysis on the ground.
“My nose tells me that everything in the ATV smells wonderful,” ISS cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov was quoted as saying. It will take the crew about five hours to clean the ATV internal air volume, the statement said.
During the procedure, the hatch will be closed again and reopened later Tuesday. “Then the ATV will be fully accessible and the cargo transfer operation can start,” the agency said.
ATV-4 mission chief Alberto Novelli said the hatch opening was delayed on Monday because of differences and ongoing discussion between the ESA and Russian space agency Roscosmos about the procedure for the crew’s entering into the spacecraft.
The supply craft is to remain docked with the ISS until October 28, when it will be deorbited and sunk in an unnavigable part of the Pacific Ocean.
