A Toxic Leak Haunts the Shuttle Crew

anybody else but me have problems with the terminology in the caption?


A Toxic Leak Haunts the Shuttle Crew

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/16/sc...&oref=s login

By JOHN SCHWARTZ, NY Times

Published: December 16, 2006

Photo caption: Capt. Robert L. Curbeam Jr. is set to make repairs today
outside the International Space Station, as he did on Tuesday. In 2001, he
became exposed to leaking ammonia while making repairs during a spacewalk.



As he leads his third spacewalk on the shuttle Discovery's mission to the
International Space Station, one word is likely to be on Capt. Robert L.
Curbeam Jr.'s mind today: ammonia.

The foul-smelling chemical is used in the space station's cooling systems
because its low freezing point is well suited to the chill of space.

But ammonia is also highly toxic, and it was at the center of a
frightening 2001 incident in which ammonia leaked from a cooling line and
coated Captain Curbeam's spacesuit.

It is a little-told story of cool competence and quick reaction under
pressure, and also a reminder, as the nation plans to return astronauts to
the Moon, that space is a tough neighborhood.