'Very serious' ammonia leak outside ISS: Russian official

MOSCOW - Agence France-Presse

This September 17, 2006 NASA file photo shows t he International Space Station over a blue and white Earth shortly after the US Space Shuttle Atlantis undocked from the orbital outpost. The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) on May 9, 2013 detected an ammonia leak from a cooling system that do poses no danger to the astronauts or the Station, NASA said. AFP photo

Russia and the United States are planning later Friday to discuss a "very serious" ammonia leak outside the International Space Station, said Vladimir Solovyov, flight director for the Russian segment of the space station.
 "Indeed, they have a serious defect, very serious," Solovyov was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. He added that astronauts on board the station may need to go into open space to fix the leak. "The decision has not been taken yet."