Russian and NASA engineers had been assessing a coolant leak on Thursday from a Soyuz crew capsule docked with the International Space Station (ISS) that will have been brought on by a micrometeorite strike.
The coolant leak pressured the last-minute cancellation of a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts on Wednesday and will doubtlessly affect a return flight to Earth by three crew members.
Russia’s area company Roscosmos and the US area company stated the leak on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft didn’t pose any hazard to the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS.
“The crew members aboard the space station are safe, and were not in any danger during the leak,” NASA stated.
It stated floor groups had been evaluating “the fluid and potential impacts to the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft.”
“NASA and Roscosmos will continue to work together to determine the next course of action following the ongoing analysis,” NASA stated.
The TASS news company quoted Sergei Krikalev, a former cosmonaut who heads the crewed area flight program for Roscosmos, as saying that the leak could have been brought on by a micrometeorite hanging Soyuz MS-22.
“The cause of the leak may be a micrometeorite entering the radiator,” TASS quoted Krikalev as saying. “Possible consequences are changes in the temperature regime.”
“No other changes in the telemetric parameters of either the Soyuz spacecraft or the (ISS) station on the Russian or American segments have been detected,” Krikalev stated.
Soyuz MS-22 flew Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the ISS in September.
It is scheduled to convey them again to Earth in March and one other vessel must be despatched to the ISS if Soyuz MS-22 is unavailable.
Prokopyev and Petelin had been making preparations for a spacewalk on Wednesday when the leak was found.
“The crew reported the warning device of the ship’s diagnostic system went off, indicating a pressure drop in the cooling system,” Roscosmos stated. “At the moment, all systems of the ISS and the ship are operating normally, the crew is safe.”
– WHITE PARTICLES –
NASA stated the leak had occurred on the “aft end” of Soyuz MS-22, which is secured to the ISS.
Dramatic NASA TV photos confirmed white particles resembling snowflakes streaming out of the rear of the vessel for hours.
There are at the moment 4 different astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the area station along with Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin.
NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina had been flown to the ISS in October aboard a SpaceX spacecraft.
Space has been a uncommon avenue of cooperation between Moscow and Washington because the begin of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine in February, and ensuing Western sanctions on Russia that shredded ties between the 2 nations.
The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of elevated US-Russia cooperation following their Space Race competitors in the course of the Cold War.
