Russian engineers assessing leak from Soyuz crew spacecraft – Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

Particles of coolant leak from Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft extracurricular the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now

A Russian Soyuz unit ferry vessel docked to the International Space Station spewed particles of an chartless substance, presumably coolant fluid, into abstraction Wednesday night, forcing 2 Russian cosmonauts to telephone disconnected a planned spacewalk arsenic engineers connected the crushed scrambled to find the root and the effects of the leak.

Mission controllers archetypal observed the leak astir 7:45 p.m. EST Wednesday (0045 GMT Thursday), according to Rob Navias, a NASA spokesperson providing commentary connected NASA TV. The leak occurred arsenic Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin prepared for a spacewalk to assistance relocate a radiator from extracurricular of the Russian Rassvet module to the Nauka subject module connected the abstraction station.

But earlier the cosmonauts could caput outside, Russian crushed controllers adjacent Moscow noticed “significant leaking of an chartless substance from the aft information of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the Rassvet module connected the International Space Station,” NASA said successful a little connection Wednesday night.

Navias said Russian crushed teams noticed a informing code indicating a driblet successful unit successful an outer cooling loop connected the Soyuz spacecraft erstwhile the spray of snow-like particles were archetypal observed streaming distant from the capsule.

The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft has been leaking evident coolant fluid much than 3 hours. International Space Station managers are discussing the situation.

The cosmonauts who were preparing for tonight’s spacewalk are safely backmost successful the abstraction station.https://t.co/2lnIsF9yec pic.twitter.com/Sbc6k8iiA2

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There are 2 manifolds successful the Soyuz spacecraft’s azygous cooling loop, Navias said. It wasn’t instantly wide what interaction the evident coolant leak mightiness person connected the show of the Soyuz spacecraft, which launched Sept. 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome successful Kazakhstan with Prokopyev, Petelin, and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio.

“The spacewalk has been canceled, and crushed teams successful Moscow are evaluating the quality of the fluid and imaginable impacts to the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft,” NASA said successful a statement.

“The experts successful Moscow are going to beryllium taking a look astatine their systems and responding to the leak according to their procedures and policies,” said Emily Nelson, NASA’s pb formation manager astatine the Johnson Space Center successful Houston. “Once they person a bully knowing of the last presumption of the Soyuz tonight, we volition past jointly marque a determination astir wherever to spell guardant from here.”

Navias said determination is nary information to the unit from the evident coolant leak, but officials volition request to benignant retired the information of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which is the lifeboat and the thrust location for 3 of the unit members connected the International Space Station.

“The champion program of enactment contiguous was to absorption each of our attention, each of our Moscow team’s attention, to benignant retired what’s going connected precisely with the Soyuz spacecraft, and we’ll regroup tomorrow,” Nelson said Wednesday night.

The configuration of the International Space Station arsenic of Dec. 14, showing the determination of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked with the Rassvet module connected the Earth-facing broadside of the complex. Credit: NASA

Russian engineers were besides assessing whether the leak mightiness person been caused by an interaction with abstraction junk oregon a micrometeoroid, oregon whether it could person been triggered by a occupation connected the Soyuz spacecraft.

The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is scheduled to instrumentality to Earth with Prokopyev, Petelin, and Rubio connected March 28. Until then, the spacecraft serves arsenic the exigency lifeboat for the three-man unit that launched aboard it successful September. If Russian officials find the Soyuz MS-22 spaceship is incapable to bring the unit home, a replacement Soyuz could beryllium launched from Baikonur without anyone on-board to automatically dock with the station.

But it’s unclear erstwhile the adjacent Soyuz successful line, Soyuz MS-23, could beryllium acceptable for launch. It is presently scheduled to instrumentality disconnected March 16 with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara to statesman a six-month expedition.

Russian crushed controllers instructed cosmonauts connected the Russian conception of the presumption to instrumentality zoomed-in photos of the instrumentation and propulsion module connected the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, the evident root of the leak.

NASA astronaut Francisco “Frank” Rubio, Russian commandant Sergey Prokopyev, and cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin extracurricular the hatch to the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft earlier their motorboat Sept. 21. Credit: GCTC

There are presently 7 unit members connected the International Space Station. A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft is besides docked to the U.S. conception of the outpost aft arriving Oct. 6 with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina.

Working from a power sheet wrong the station, Kikina extended the European robotic limb to survey the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft aft the leak.

The adjacent SpaceX Crew Dragon ngo is scheduled for motorboat Feb. 19 from Kennedy Space Center successful Florida with 2 NASA astronauts, an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates, and a Russian cosmonaut.

Two Russian Progress resupply ships and a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo freighter are besides attached to the abstraction station.

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Follow Stephen Clark connected Twitter: @StephenClark1.