Russian and NASA engineers on Thursday investigated a coolant leak from a Soyuz crew capsule docked with the International Space Station (ISS) that may have been caused by a micrometeorite impact.
Hours of dramatic NASA television images showed white particles resembling snowflakes pouring out of the ship’s stern.
The coolant leak forced the last-minute cancellation of a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts on Wednesday and could potentially affect a flight back to Earth for three crew members.
Russia’s space company Roscosmos and the US space agency shared the leak Soyuz spacecraft MS-22 presented no danger to the astronauts and cosmonauts on board the ISS.
“Crew members aboard the space station are safe and were not in danger during the leak,” said NASA.
It said ground teams were evaluating “potential impacts on the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft.”
“NASA and Roscosmos will continue to work together to determine the next course of action,” said NASA.
The TASS news agency quoted Sergei Krikalev, a former cosmonaut who heads the manned space flight program for Roscosmos, as saying the leak may have been caused by a tiny meteorite hitting Soyuz MS-22.
“The cause of the leak could be a micrometeorite entering the radiator,” TASS quoted Krikalev as saying. “Possible consequences are changes in the temperature regime.”
“No other changes were detected in the telemetric parameters of the Soyuz spacecraft or the (ISS) station on the Russian or American segment,” Krikalev said
coolant pressure drop
NASA added later that the station’s crew “completed normal operations on Thursday, including … configuring tools ahead of a scheduled U.S. spacewalk on Monday.”
The Soyuz MS-22 flew Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the ISS in September.
It is planned to bring her back to Earth in March and another ship would have to be sent to the ISS if Soyuz MS-22 is not available.
Prokopyev and Petelin were preparing for a spacewalk on Wednesday when the leak was discovered.
“The crew reported that the ship’s diagnostic system warning device was triggered, indicating a drop in pressure in the cooling system.” said Roscosmos. “At the moment all systems of the ISS and the ship are working normally, the crew is safe.”
NASA said the leak occurred at the “back end” of Soyuz MS-22, which is attached to the space station.
In addition to Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin, four other astronauts and cosmonauts are currently on board the space station.
NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina were flown to the ISS aboard a SpaceX spacecraft in October.
Space has been a rare avenue of cooperation between Moscow and Washington since the start of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine in February and subsequent Western sanctions against Russia that shattered ties between the two countries.
The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of increased cooperation between the US and Russia following their Cold War space race competition.
