Astronauts on the international space station have determined a pinhead-sized hole in a hose was the only leak aboard the station that caused a three-week drop in air pressure, Russia's Interfax news agency reported Monday.
NASA astronaut Michael Foale and Russian Alexander Kaleri sealed off two modules of the orbiting station at the weekend to check air was not seeping from anywhere else.
"The check of the station's modules at the weekend showed that all modules ... are airtight," Interfax quoted a Russian Mission Control spokesman as saying.
"This check was necessary to make sure that none of the modules had any other leaks, and our investigations fully confirmed this."
Air pressure aboard the station started steadily dropping last month, but stabilized after the crew found and removed a defective hose in the U.S.-built Destiny laboratory module last week.
Russian and U.S. space officials said the leak had not endangered the crew at any time because there were adequate air supplies on board.
A Progress cargo ship, scheduled to blast off to the station on Jan. 29, will deliver a replacement hose.
