A problem in the U.S. segment of the International Space Station on Wednesday prompted its six-person crew to quickly lock it up and move to a Russian module, but they aren't in danger, Russian and U.S. officials said.
"The space station crew is safe," NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said.
Russia's space agency Roscosmos said in a statement that a "leak of harmful substances from the cooling system" prompted the crew to isolate the American module.
"The crew is safe and is in the Russian segment now," it said in a statement, adding that mission control experts in Moscow and Houston quickly and efficiently co-operated to ensure the crew's safety.
While Roscosmos said positively that there was a leak, NASA said in a statement broadcast on its online television station there was still "no concrete data that suggests that there was in fact an ammonia leak."
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station were forced out of the U.S. section and into the Russian section due to a warning of a possible ammonia leak. (Associated Press/NASA)
"We saw an increase in water loop pressure, then later saw a cabin-pressure increase that could be indicative of an ammonia leak in the worst case scenario, so we protected for the worst case scenario and isolated the crew in the Russian segment of the space station while the teams are evaluating the situation," Jacobs said.
"ISS flight controllers are not sure if the alarm was triggered by a pressure spike, a faulty sensor, or a problem in a computer relay box," NASA tweeted.
NASA said during an update on the situation that an alarm sounded at approximately 3 a.m. CT that can sometimes be indicative of an ammonia leak. The ISS crew put on masks and moved into the Russian section. Non-essential equipment in the U.S. section was powered down, but is now in process of being powered back up.
The Tass news agency reported that just about one third of ammonia was left in the coolant system at the U.S. module and the rest has leaked out.
It quoted Roscosmos chief Oleg Ostapenko that the situation was still being examined, but "evacuation is not on the agenda."
The space outpost is manned by NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Terry Virts, Russians Elena Serova, Alexander Samoukutyaev and Anton Shkaplerov and European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti.
The space station experienced an ammonia leak in 2013.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, a former commander of the ISS, said an ammonia leak is one of the three major incidents that the station occupants train to confront. The other two, he tweeted, are "fire/smoke [and] contaminated atmosphere/medical."
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