Small Fire Occurs on Mir Space Station
News story originally written on February 24, 1997
A crack in an oxygen-making machine on the Mir space station caused a
small fire on the night of February 24. The fire caused some damage to hardware
on the station. The crew was exposed to heavy smoke for about five minutes.
No one was injured.
During the fire, the crew of Mir wore masks to protect themselves from breathing
in smoke. After the fire was put out, the on-board doctor (U.S.
astronaut Jerry Linenger) made sure the crew was okay. The crew
continues to wear masks and goggles until the air of the Mir station has
been proven safe to breathe.
The fire burned for about
90 seconds. It was put out by crewmembers using fire
extinguishers.
Damage to some of Mir's hardware occured due to the excessive heat. Yet,
all of the space station's systems are
still operating normally, according to Russian reports.
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