The ammonia pump that has been broken will soon be fixed, as two NASA astronauts will shortly be going out on a spacewalk to replace it.

These pumps are said to throw out the generated ammonia and hence avert the equipment from overheating. But, the recent pump shut has resulted in blowing out almost half of the space station's cooling system.

According to the sources, the repair will entail at least two spacewalks by these astronauts. The repair plan took weeks to come up at the International Space Station.

The two astronauts, who will be dealing with the pressurized ammonia lines, are Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Douglas Wheelock.

NASA officials said, "The crew is on a normal sleep shift, and supporting a normal workday, but most of the planned activities for the week have been cancelled or deferred in order to support spacewalk preparations”.

The astronauts at present are busy acquainting themselves with all the steps, which will have to be carried out to enable decontamination of the spacesuits.

After removing the failed units, the astronauts will then have to shift the 780-pound spare units for around 10 meters to fill in the gap left by the pump.