Sudden "fire from the sky"
After a busy day on the Mir space station, the six astronauts sat together to enjoy dinner - jelly perch and borscht, which of course could only be squeezed into their mouths from a toothpaste-like container. The number of guests in the "Mir" is 3 people, and the reason why it is twice as full is because it happened to be the handover of the two groups of astronauts. The new German astronauts are only on the space station for a short "internship" of one week. After the internship, they will return to Earth with the two Russian astronauts who have been on duty on the "Mir" for half a year. The two new Russian astronauts Vasily and Sasha will form a new member group with the remaining American astronaut Jerry to start the next stage of space life.
After finishing the meal, Jerry left the core module and returned to his computer to process the test data of the day. The new Russian astronaut Sasha also left the table with him. He used oxygen production equipment in the "Quantum 1" module not far from Jerry to produce oxygen.
Under normal manned conditions, the environmental system on the Mir space station can ensure the normal breathing of three astronauts, but now that the number of people has doubled, new oxygen must be added. The oxygen generator generates oxygen through chemical reactions, and when in use, a metal tank filled with liquefied gas must be installed. The tank is in the shape of a capsule, each the size of a basketball.
Suddenly, the main alarm in the Mir space station rang loudly, but Jerry did not take it seriously. He has adapted to life in the space station, and has long regarded the various faults and frequent alarms that pop up from time to time on the "Mir" as commonplace. In order not to be disturbed by the alarm, Jerry also grabbed a pair of noise-reducing earplugs and stuffed them into his ears, and then hurried to continue saving data. He felt that as long as the power was not cut off, it meant that it was not a big problem. It was not until the new Russian astronaut Vasily "flew" towards him in a panic that Jerry felt that something might have happened. Because the thick smoke behind Vasily had begun to spread like tentacles, "It’s on fire! A very big fire!"
Vassily shouted.
On the indicator panel arranged in the shape of a Christmas tree in the core module, the warning lights for smoke and fire have flashed, and thick smoke continues to pour out of the "Quantum 1" cabin--When Sasha was making oxygen, a metal tank suddenly broke, and the high-pressure gas that gushed out instantly caught fire. The flames were spewing out from the broken gap of the metal tank, becoming a bright ball behind the thick smoke. The high temperature melted the metal material of the tank, and spherical metal droplets continued to splash out and hit the opposite cabin wall.
Jerry quickly pulled off his earplugs. At this time, the thick smoke had filled the cabin. He heard someone shouting "decompression". The high temperature caused by the fire might burn through the aluminum alloy shell of the "Mir". The vacuum environment in space would instantly suck away all the gas in the space station, even the astronauts. Jerry subconsciously bent down, but he immediately thought that this was a space station. The thick smoke would not float upward like on the ground, but would evenly fill the entire cabin. The previous firefighting knowledge was not of much use. What he needed most now was to find a breathing mask before being choked to death by the thick smoke.
Emergency response
When Jerry, wearing a breathing mask, groped his way to the node cabin, he found that several other astronauts had arrived there at about the same time. This was the place where astronauts gathered after a major accident such as a fire. Since everyone was wearing a breathing mask, the astronauts could only communicate by gestures. The first issue they had to discuss was whether to abandon the Mir. There were indeed two Soyuz spacecraft on the space station, but one was at one end of the burning Quantum 1 cabin and could not be reached through the fire, so there was actually only one spacecraft that could be used. Therefore, even if the Mir was abandoned, only three astronauts could evacuate. As for another issue of asking for help from the ground, it would take at least half an hour for the Mir to fly to a position where it could communicate with the flight control center in Moscow. In such a long time, the oxygen in the space station must have been burned out, so now the astronauts can only rely on themselves.
In order to avoid annihilation, Korzun, the commander of the Mir space station, decided that he, Jerry and Sasha would stay to put out the fire, and the other three astronauts would go to the usable Soyuz spacecraft for temporary shelter. After determining the plan, the well-trained astronauts took action immediately. After the first group evacuated to the Soyuz spacecraft, Sasha immediately closed the sealed doors of each cabin and turned off the equipment on the station, especially the ventilation fans. Jerry and Korzun tried to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher. It takes two people to put out the fire because in space, an open fire extinguisher is equivalent to a small reaction rocket engine, which will push people in the opposite direction. So Korzun needs to hold the fire extinguisher towards the fire point, and Jerry pushes him from the opposite direction, and the two work together to put out the fire. Every once in a while, they have to shake each other to confirm that each other is still conscious in the thick smoke and fire.
The first fire extinguisher did not slow down the fire. Sasha quickly sent the second one, and then the third one. Metal droplets kept spraying along the outer edge of the flame, spraying the opposite cabin wall black. Although the high temperature melted some equipment in the cabin, fortunately the insulation layer in the cabin was not burned through. Although the fire could not be put out, the fire extinguisher at least played a role in cooling down. The fire continued to burn for 14 minutes, and finally went out after burning out all the oxygen in the cabin. The entire "Mir" was filled with choking smoke.
Averted danger
The astronauts who had been divided into two teams reunited and gathered in the cabin farthest from the fire in the Quantum 1 cabin. Everyone tried to slow down their metabolism and prayed that the oxygen in the respirator would not run out before the air purifier of the "Mir" "eliminated" the smoke.
More than an hour after the open fire was extinguished, Korzun’s oxygen ran out first, perhaps because he was the most active when fighting the fire. Korzun carefully took off his respirator, took a few deep breaths, and then told everyone that the air in the cabin could be used for breathing. The other astronauts also took off their masks after their oxygen ran out. At this time, the smoke in the cabin was still very thick. Jerry found some filter masks and distributed them to everyone. Although they could not completely isolate the thick smoke like breathing masks, they could at least block some large particles of harmful substances from entering the respiratory tract.
The astronauts all breathed a sigh of relief. They survived the disaster and did not have to give up the "Mir" and continued to perform their respective tasks. Jerry gave the astronauts a physical examination. Fortunately, the air filtration system on the "Mir" performed well. Except for their eyes being a little red and swollen from the smoke, no harmful gases were inhaled into their lungs.
Afterwards, under the command of Korzun, the astronauts first cleaned the Mir space station equipment and the condensed oil smoke on the wall, and then began to clean themselves. The Mir space station after the "Skyfire" catastrophe left a somewhat funny scene: 6 astronauts were naked except for the masks on their faces, floating and doing dry cleaning for themselves...
