A Russian Soyuz crew ferry ship docked to the International Space Station spewed particles of an unknown substance, presumably coolant fluid, into space Wednesday night, forcing two Russian cosmonauts to call of a planned spacewalk as engineers on the ground scrambled to determine the source and the effects of the leak.
Mission controllers first observed the leak around 7:45 p.m. EST Wednesday (0045 GMT Thursday), according to Rob Navias, a NASA spokesperson providing commentary on NASA TV. The leak occurred as Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin prepared for a spacewalk to help relocate a radiator from outside of the Russian Rassvet module to the Nauka science module on the space station.
But before the cosmonauts could head outside, Russian ground controllers near Moscow noticed “significant leaking of an unknown substance from the aft portion of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the Rassvet module on the International space Station,” NASA said in a brief statement Wednesday night.
Navias said Russian ground teams noticed a warning tone indicating a drop in pressure in an external cooling loop on the Soyuz spacecraft when the particles were first observed streaming away from the capsule.
Particles of coolant leak from Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft outside the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now
There are two manifolds in the Soyuz spacecraft’s single cooling loop, Navias said. It wasn’t immediately clear what impact the apparent coolant leak might have on the performance of the Soyuz spacecraft, which launched Sept. 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with Prokopyev, Petelin, and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio.
“The spacewalk has been canceled, and ground teams in Moscow are evaluating the nature of the fluid and potential impacts to the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft,” NASA said in a statement.
Russian engineers were also assessing whether the leak might have been caused by an impact with space junk or a micrometeoroid, or whether it could have been triggered by a problem on the Soyuz spacecraft.
The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth with Prokopyev, Petelin, and Rubio in late March. Until then, the spacecraft serves as the emergency lifeboat for the three-man crew that launched aboard it in September. If Russian officials determine the Soyuz MS-22 spaceship is unable to bring the crew home, a replacement Soyuz could be launched from Baikonur without anyone on-board to automatically dock with the station.
But it’s unclear when the next Soyuz in line, Soyuz MS-23, could be ready for launch. It is currently scheduled to take off March 16 with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara to begin a six-month expedition.
The configuration of the International Space Station as of Dec. 14, showing the location of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked with the Rassvet module on the Earth-facing side of the complex. Credit: NASA
Russian ground controllers instructed cosmonauts on the Russian segment of the station to take zoomed-in photos of the instrumentation and propulsion module on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, the apparent origin of the leak.
There are currently six crew members on the International Space Station. A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is also docked to the U.S. segment of the outpost after arriving Oct. 6 with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina.
Two Russian Progress resupply ships and a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo freighter are also attached to the space station.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. the author.
Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.