Two International Space Station astronauts set out today on a planned spacewalk to find and repair, if possible, a crack leaking the station's cooling ammonia.
Spots of frozen ammonia were seen Thursday in a wide arc around the solar panels, on the left side of the station.
Less than 48 hours after noticing the problem, astronauts Thomas Marsburn and Christopher Cassidy went into free space to detect the malfunction.
They are ready, if necessary, to replace even the pump.
NASA has announced that it is a significant leak, but that it does not pose a threat to the safety of astronauts on the International Space Station.
At the beginning of the spacewalk, none of the astronauts noticed ammonia stains or anything like that.
The astronauts had to take photos of the equipment, but the camera wasn't working, so one of the astronauts had to wait for daylight to shine on the station from Earth.
On the International Space Station, ammonia is used to cool the power generation system. NASA says it is now working to rewire the solar panels so that the system leaking ammonia can be shut down.
Last year, a similar failure occurred at the station, but it is not known whether it was the same or another system.
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