A large coolant leak from one among Russia’s Soyuz crew spacecraft docked to the International Space Station compelled cosmonauts to cancel a spacewalk as flight controllers on the bottom labored to troubleshoot the issue.
The leak, which was traced again to the coolant system for the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, was first detected on Wednesday (Dec. 14) at 7:45 p.m. EST (0045 GMT on Dec. 15), about an hour and 40 minutes earlier than Expedition 68 crewmates Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin of the Russian federal space company Roscosmos have been scheduled to start a 6-hour, 40-minute spacewalk. The extravehicular exercise (EVA) was referred to as off after the 2 cosmonauts had already donned their spacesuits and have been within the strategy of depressurizing the airlock to start the outing.
As an alternative, Prokopyev and Petelin, who have been by no means in any hazard, repressurized the airlock and reentered the space station.
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Cameras on the outside of the space station confirmed a gradual stream of frozen flakes being ejected from the Soyuz spacecraft into space. Though not but confirmed, it was believed the supply of the leak was an exterior coolant system situated close to the aft part of the automobile.
“The reason for this leak [is] not identified at the moment,” NASA spokesperson Rob Navias mentioned throughout reside commentary. “Russian specialists are persevering with to take a look at the information and discussing what could have triggered the leak.”
Flight controllers assured the cosmonauts that the space station, itself, was protected. The leak, nevertheless, did proceed for at the least three hours.
The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft launched in September with Prokopyev, Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio. Along with being the three crewmates deliberate trip dwelling in March, the automobile additionally serves as a “lifeboat” ought to an emergency aboard the space station require an evacuation of the crew.
The standing of the Soyuz to securely carry astronauts again to Earth is unknown. Roscosmos might launch an uncrewed Soyuz and autonomously dock it with the space station if wanted.
This was the the second time that Prokopyev and Petelin needed to cancel their EVA, which was deliberate to relocate a radiator from one Russian module to a different. On Nov. 24, the 2 have been on the point of exit the space station when an issue was detected with a water coolant pump on Prokopyev’s Orlan spacesuit.
The Worldwide House Station is at present dwelling to seven crewmembers. The crew contains three Russian cosmonauts, three U.S. astronauts with NASA and one Japanese astronaut. Along with the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, there’s a docked SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that flew the opposite 4 crewmembers — NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikuna — to the space station in October.
Editor’s be aware: This can be a creating story and will likely be up to date as new particulars are identified.
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