Nasa unworried by space station noise

Nasa will leave it to its Russian partners to determine whether an alarming noise aboard the International Space Station was caused by something hitting the 200-tonne outpost, a spokesman for the US space agency said yesterday.

On Wednesday, station Commander Michael Foale reported hearing a sound like a crunching tin can coming from the rear of the Russian Zvezda module, which serves as a living quarters and galley for the two-man crew.

Nasa said that later, after conferring with Russian crewmate Alexander Kaleri, Foale said the sound was more like a piece of a sheet of metal being flexed.

The noise raised concerns the ship may have been hit by a meteoroid or piece of space junk that would typically be orbiting the planet at eight kilometres per second.

Nasa ground controllers recorded no problems with air or coolant systems on the ship, and a visual inspection using cameras on the station's Canadian-built robot arm revealed no holes or major dents to the station's hull, said Nasa spokesman James Hartsfield.

"Everything appears to be fine," said Hartsfield. "It will be up to the Russians to decide whether anything else should be investigated. There's not much left for us to look at from our end."