NASA

Small Fire Occurs on Mir Space Station
News story originally written on February 24, 1997

A crack in an oxygen-generating device 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 and 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 extinguished, the on-board physician (U.S. astronaut Jerry Linenger) made sure the crew was still in good health. The crew continues to wear masks and goggles until the atmosphere of the Mir station has been proven safe to breathe.

The fire occurred in Kvant module 1 at 10:35pm, Moscow time. It burned for about 90 seconds. It was extinguished by crewmembers using foam from three fire extinguishers. The fire is believed to have occurred due to a crack in an oxygen generator's shell, causing its contents to leak into hardware and circuitry.

Damage to some of Mir's hardware occured due to the excessive heat. The generator and its surrounding hardware was destroyed as well as a few outer insulation layers on various cables. Yet, all of the space station's systems are still operating normally, according to Russian reports.

You might also be interested in:

Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

Astronauts take fifth spacewalk to service the Hubble Space Telescope

Astronauts Mark Lee and Steve Smith of the space shuttle Discovery completed their fifth and last spacewalk in the repair of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The spacewalk lasted 5 hours, 17 minutes....more

Space Shuttle Discovery Scheduled to Land Early Friday Morning

The Discovery Space Shuttle is scheduled to land at 1:48 am EST on Friday, February 21, at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This will be only the fourth time that a nighttime landing...more

Space Shuttle to launch on April 3 for new manned mission

At 2:01 PM on April 3, NASA plans to launch Space Shuttle Columbia into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle will stay in orbit for two weeks in which several experiments will be carried out....more

A Perfect Place for Penguins!

Scientists have recently discovered that thousands of Adelie Penguins thrive in patches of the chilly Southern Ocean near Antarctica's coastline. In these special areas of the ocean, called polynyas,...more

Triggers of Volcanic Eruptions in Oregon's Mount Hood Investigated

Scientists have learned that Mount Hood, Oregon's tallest mountain, has erupted in the past due to the mixing of two different types of magma. "The data will help give us a better road map to what a future...more

Oldest Earth Mantle Reservoir Discovered

The Earth's mantle is a rocky, solid shell that is between the Earth's crust and the outer core, and makes up about 84 percent of the Earth's volume. The mantle is made up of many distinct portions or...more

It’s Not Your Fault – A Typical Fault, Geologically Speaking, That Is

Some geologic faults that appear strong and stable, slip and slide like weak faults, causing earthquakes. Scientists have been looking at one of these faults in a new way to figure out why. In theory,...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA