WASHINGTON — A coolant leak in a Soyuz spacecraft docked to the Worldwide Area Station Dec. 14 compelled flight controllers to cancel a Russian spacewalk there and raised questions in regards to the spacecraft’s skill to return to Earth safely.
Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin had been getting ready for a spacewalk when station controllers seen a coolant leak within the service module of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked there at roughly 7:45 p.m. Jap. That spacecraft delivered Prokopyev and Petelin, together with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, to the station practically three months in the past.
The 2 cosmonauts continued their spacewalk preparations however remained within the airlock as engineers on the bottom assessed the issue. Their seven-hour spacewalk was scheduled to start at about 9:20 p.m. Jap, however was delayed and in the end canceled shortly earlier than 10 p.m. Jap. The leak, seen as a stream of particles from the Soyuz, was seen greater than three hours after it began in NASA TV protection.
“One of the best plan of motion tonight was focus all of our Moscow staff’s consideration on finding out what’s occurring precisely with the Soyuz spacecraft after which we’ll regroup tomorrow,” Emily Nelson, NASA chief flight director on the Johnson Area Heart, mentioned in feedback on NASA TV round midnight Jap.
The Russian area company Roscosmos, in a quick assertion Dec. 15, mentioned there was “harm to the outer lining” of the service module of the Soyuz, however didn’t supply extra particulars on the issue. Roscosmos mentioned a 3rd Russian cosmonaut on the station, Anna Kikina, used a robotic arm to carry out a photographic inspection of the spacecraft, returning these pictures to Earth for evaluation.
Each the trigger and the severity of the leak are unclear. The leak didn’t pose any instant danger to the station and its crew, however in a worst-case situation, it could render the Soyuz spacecraft unable to return to Earth safely with its crew.
Roscosmos may launch the subsequent Soyuz to the station with none crew on board as a alternative, however it’s unsure when the spacecraft, Soyuz MS-23, might be ready for launch, and doing so would have an effect on future crew rotations. Soyuz MS-23 is at present scheduled to launch to the station in March 2023 with two Roscosmos cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut.
The danger of an issue with both Soyuz or U.S. business crew autos is a serious motive why NASA had, for years, sought to change seats between such spacecraft in a barter association. That might imply there could be not less than one NASA astronaut and one Roscosmos cosmonaut on the station at any time ought to both Soyuz or business crew autos be out of service for an prolonged interval.
After in depth negotiations, NASA and Roscosmos completed the seat barter agreement in July. Rubio flew to the station on Soyuz MS-22 in September and Kikina on the SpaceX Crew-5 Crew Dragon mission in October, turning into the primary Russian cosmonaut to fly on a business crew automobile. The present settlement contains seat barters on Soyuz and Crew Dragon missions scheduled for the spring and fall of 2023.
The leak marked the second consecutive postponement of a spacewalk by Prokopyev and Petelin, meant to maneuver a radiator from the Rassvet module to the Nauka module on the station. Roscosmos known as off the primary try on the spacewalk Nov. 25 due to an issue with a pump in one of many spacesuits.
