A coolant leak identified in a Russian space capsule attached to the International Space Station may have been caused by a micrometeorite, a source with Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said Thursday.
Roscosmos and the US space agency NASA said the incident did not pose any danger to the station’s crew, the Associated Press (AP) agency reported.
However, the leak caused a pair of Russian astronauts to abort a planned spacewalk earlier that day.
Sergei Krikalev, a veteran astronaut who serves as director of human spaceflight programs at Roscosmos, explained that a meteor hitting one of the external radiators of the Soyuz MS-22 capsule could have caused a coolant leak.
The malfunction could affect the performance of the capsule’s cooling system and the temperature in the capsule’s equipment section, but does not put the crew at risk, Krikalev said in a statement.
Krikalev added that Russian flight controllers are assessing the situation and monitoring temperature gauges on the Soyuz.
“There were no other changes to the parameters of the Soyuz spacecraft and the station, so there is no threat to the crew,” he stressed.
NASA stressed Thursday that “none of the crew members aboard the space station were in any danger and all conducted normal operations throughout the day.”
The US agency supported the Russian statement, noting that “the external cooling circuit of the Soyuz radiator is the suspected source of the leak.”
“Rocosmos is closely monitoring Soyuz capsule temperatures, which remain within acceptable limits,” NASA said in a statement.
“NASA and Roscosmos continue to coordinate inspection plans and external imaging to help assess the location of the external leak. Plans for additional inspection of the Soyuz exterior using the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm are ongoing,” it said.
Krikalev explained that the station’s future operations depend on an evaluation of the condition of the capsule.
At the station are Russian astronauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin and Anna Kikina, NASA’s Frank Rubio Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Source: TSF
