The Russian space agency said the Soyuz capsule was damaged by an uncontrolled leak while it was on the space station
The Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement that an uncontrolled coolant leak on a Russian-made Soyuz spacecraft docked at the International Space Station damaged the crew capsule.
On Wednesday (December 14) at 7:45 PM EST (0045 GMT on December 15), a Coolant leak On the Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which is currently docked in International Space Station The ISS was discovered while Expedition 68 cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petlin were preparing for a nearly seven-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station. The EVA was canceled after the astronauts had already donned their spacesuits and started depressurizing the airlock. Cameras on the outside of the space station showed a steady stream of frozen coolant into space from the Soyuz capsule as the astronauts returned to the main body of the station.
On Thursday (December 15), Roscosmos issued a statement (Opens in a new tab) Via her Telegram channel, she wrote that “according to preliminary information, on Thursday, December 15, the outer skin of the instrument and assembly compartment of the Soyuz MS-22 manned spacecraft sustained damage,” but the crew on board the space station remains safe and According to google translate (Opens in a new tab). (The accident occurred at 3:45 a.m. local time on Dec. 15 for Russia’s command mission.)
Related: The Soyuz spacecraft is experiencing a “fairly large” leak at the space station
The crew reported that the ship’s diagnostic system alarm had gone off, indicating low pressure in the cooling system. A visual inspection confirmed the leak, after which it was decided to stop the planned extravehicular activities by the crew members of the Russian ship. Part of the International Space Station, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petlin,” Roscosmos officials wrote in the statement.
“Currently, all systems of the International Space Station and the ship are operating normally, and the crew is safe,” the statement continued. “After analyzing the situation, a decision will be made on the further actions of both specialists on the ground and members of the crew of the Russian part of the ISS.”
NASA issued a similar statement (Opens in a new tab) “NASA and Roscosmos will continue to work together to determine the next course of action after ongoing analysis. The crew members aboard the space station are safe and were not in danger during the leak,” he wrote Thursday.
In response to a request for more detailed information from Space.com, a NASA spokesperson said the agency would issue an update. on her blog (Opens in a new tab).
It remains unclear how the leak and damage to the Soyuz spacecraft will affect the MS-22 crew return planned for March 2023, which Including NASA astronaut Frank Rubio. Neither NASA nor Roscosmos gave any hint as to whether the MS-22 capsule that was supposed to carry Rubio, Betlin and Prokopyev home was still airworthy after the apparent massive loss of coolant.
It is also not known if the International Space Station as a whole or the Cygnus spacecraft docked near MS-22 sustained any damage from the leak. There are also two Progress cargo capsules, the Dragon cargo capsule and the Crew Dragon capsule, which carried NASA’s Nicole Mann and Josh Kasada and Japan’s Koichi Wakata and astronaut Anna Kikina to the space station in October 2022.
Space agencies have not suggested any particular coolant leaked from the Soyuz, but ammonia, a common spacecraft refrigerant, can be corrosive to many metals.
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