Russia’s space company has known as off one other spacewalk on the Worldwide House Station as engineers examine why a Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft docked there started leaking coolant late Wednesday (Dec. 14).
Officers with Roscosmos, Russia’s space company, already postponed one spacewalk on Wednesday, when the Soyuz leak was detected as two cosmonauts had been making ready to exit the station for a seven-hour tour. Now, a second spacewalk deliberate for Dec. 21 is not within the playing cards.
“A Roscosmos spacewalk scheduled for Dec. 21 is indefinitely postponed because the staff continues its investigation of the Soyuz spacecraft,” NASA officers wrote in a statement (opens in new tab) Thursday.
Associated: Soyuz spacecraft suffers ‘fairly substantial’ leak at space station
A NASA spacewalk scheduled for Monday (Dec. 19) continues to be anticipated to go on as deliberate, NASA officers stated.
“The crew aboard station accomplished regular operations Thursday, together with taking part in science investigations and analysis, in addition to configuring instruments forward of a deliberate U.S. spacewalk on Monday, Dec. 19,” NASA officers wrote within the assertion. “Specialists are working by robotic plans forward of Monday’s spacewalk to greatest optimize for upcoming station operations and the Soyuz inspection.”
The Soyuz spacecraft, known as Soyuz MS-22, skilled an uncontrolled coolant leak Wednesday at 7:45 p.m. EST (0045 GMT on Dec. 15) that lasted for a number of hours, forcing Roscosmos to call off a spacewalk by cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelinto that aimed to maneuver a radiator on the station’s Russian section.
The Soyuz spacecraft launched the 2 cosmonauts and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the station in September and serves as that crew’s lifeboat and return trip residence. It’s docked on the station’s Earth-facing Rassvet docking port.
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Late Wednesday, Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina on the space station used the outpost’s European Robotic Arm to examine the stricken Soyuz capsule. NASA engineers plan to do the identical utilizing the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm. Roscosmos officers have reported spotting some damage on the Soyuz capsule after the leak.
It’s unclear if the spacecraft can nonetheless be used to fly Petelinto, Prokopyev and Rubio to Earth after they’re resulting from return in early 2023. Not one of the space station’s crew had been in any hazard throughout the leak itself, NASA has stated.
“Roscosmos is carefully monitoring Soyuz spacecraft temperatures, which stay inside acceptable limits,” NASA officers wrote within the Thursday replace. “NASA and Roscosmos proceed to coordinate exterior imagery and inspection plans to help in evaluating the exterior leak location.”
E mail Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or observe him @tariqjmalik (opens in new tab). Observe us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab).
