Russia, U.S. in constant contact to resolve emergency at ISS

Russian federal space agency Roscosmos and U.S. space agency NASA are maintaining constant contact after a false alarm triggered an emergency situation at the International Space Station (ISS), Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Wednesday during a telecommunications meeting.

The meeting was convened among ISS crew onboard, Roscosmos, NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) to keep abreast of the latest development at the space station.

An alarm at about 4 a.m. EST (0900 GMT) indicated a possible ammonia leak in the U.S. part of the ISS, triggering evacuation of astronauts to the Russian section. The alarm later turned out to be false.

The latest blog posted on official NASA website showed that the crew was allowed by ISS mission management team to return to the U. S. segment. Earlier, NASA said in a statement that the crew members "are safe and in good shape."

Measurements of the cabin atmosphere confirmed there is no ammonia indication in the segment, while flight controllers are continuing to analyze data to clarify what triggered the alarm, according to NASA.

Roscosmos has confirmed that the Russian segment was safe from air pollution, while a representative of the Mission Control in Russia's city of Korolyov explained that there is enough room and supplies for all six crew members in the Russia segment.

Each segment of the ISS is designed to contain everything needed to support the entire ISS crew, Interfax news agency quoted the representative as saying.

ISS crew currently consists of two Americans, one Italian and three Russians. Endite