by Lucie Aubourg and Chris Lefkow in Washington with Ola
Cichowlas in Moscow
Russian and NASA engineers were assessing a coolant leak on Thursday from a
Soyuz crew capsule docked with the International Space Station (ISS) that may
have been caused by a micrometeorite strike.
اضافة اعلان
The coolant leak forced the last-minute cancellation of a spacewalk by two
Russian cosmonauts on Wednesday and could potentially impact a return flight to
Earth by three crew members.
Russia's space corporation Roscosmos and the US space agency said the leak
on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft did not pose any danger 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 said.
It said ground teams were 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 said.
The TASS news agency quoted Sergei Krikalev, a former cosmonaut who heads
the crewed space flight program for Roscosmos, as saying that the leak may have
been caused by a micrometeorite striking 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 said.
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 bring them back to Earth in March and another vessel
would have to be sent 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 discovered.
"The crew reported the warning device of the ship's diagnostic system
went off, indicating a pressure drop in the cooling system," Roscosmos
said. "At the moment, all systems of the ISS and the ship are operating
normally, the crew is safe."
- White particles -
NASA said the leak had occurred on the "aft end" of Soyuz MS-22,
which is secured to the ISS.
Dramatic NASA TV images showed white particles resembling snowflakes
streaming out of the rear of the vessel for hours.
There are currently four other astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station
in addition to Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin.
NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, Japanese astronaut Koichi
Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina were flown to the ISS in October
aboard a SpaceX spacecraft.
Space has been a rare avenue of cooperation between Moscow and Washington
since the start of Moscow's assault on Ukraine in February, and ensuing Western
sanctions on Russia that shredded ties between the two countries.
The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of increased US-Russia cooperation
following their Space Race competition during the Cold War.
Read More Lifestyle
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
