Russian engineers assess leakage from Soyuz crew spacecraft – Spaceflight Now

A Russian Soyuz crew ferry docked at the International Space Station, spewing particles of an unknown substance, presumably a cryogenic liquid, into space Wednesday night, forcing two Russian cosmonauts to cancel a planned spacewalk as engineers on the ground scrambled to determine the source. and the source. leakage effects.

Mission controllers first noticed the leak around 7:45 p.m. EDT Wednesday (0045 GMT Thursday), according to Rob Navias, a NASA spokesperson who provided commentary on NASA TV. The leak occurred when Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petlin prepared for a spacewalk to help transfer coolant from outside Russia’s Rassvet module to the space station’s Nauka science module.

But before the astronauts could head outside, Russian ground controllers near Moscow noticed “a large leak of an unknown substance from the back of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked in the International Space Station’s Rasvet module,” NASA said in a statement. Brief statement. Wednesday night.

Navias said Russian ground teams noticed a warning tone indicating pressure drop in the outer cooling loop on the Soyuz spacecraft when a spray of snow-like particles was first observed flowing away from the capsule.

The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft had an apparent coolant leak for more than three hours. International Space Station managers discuss the situation.

The astronauts preparing for tonight’s spacewalk have returned safely to the space station.https://t.co/2lnIsF9yec pic.twitter.com/Sbc6k8iiA2

– SpaceflightNow (@SpaceflightNow) December 15, 2022

Navias said there are two manifolds in the Soyuz spacecraft’s single cooling loop. It was not immediately clear the potential impact of the apparent coolant leak on the performance of the Soyuz spacecraft, which launched Sept. 21 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with Prokopyev, Betlin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio.

“The spacewalk has been cancelled, and ground teams in Moscow are evaluating the nature of the fluids and potential impacts on the safety of the Soyuz spacecraft,” NASA said in a statement.

“Experts in Moscow will take a look at their systems and respond to the leak according to their own procedures and policies,” said Emily Nelson, NASA’s principal flight manager at Johnson Space Center in Houston. “Once they have a good understanding of the final position of Soyuz tonight, we will make a joint decision on where to proceed from here.”

There is no danger to the crew from an apparent coolant leak, Navias said, but officials will need to sort out the condition of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, the lifeboat and ride home for three crew members in international space. Station.

“The best plan of action tonight was to focus all of our attention, all of our Moscow team’s attention, on sorting out exactly what’s going on with the Soyuz spacecraft, and we’re going to regroup tomorrow,” Nelson said Wednesday night.

Russian engineers were also evaluating whether the leak was caused by a collision with space junk or a small meteorite, or if it was caused by a problem with the Soyuz spacecraft.

The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth with Prokopyev, Petelin, and Rubio on March 28. Until then, the spacecraft serves as an emergency lifeboat for the three-man crew who launched aboard in September. If Russian officials determine that the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is unable to bring the crew home, a replacement Soyuz craft 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 on March 16 with Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chubb and NASA astronaut Laurel O’Hara to begin a six-month expedition.

Russian ground controllers instructed cosmonauts in the Russian part of the station to take enlarged photos of the measurement and thrust module on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, the apparent origin of the leak.

There are currently seven crew members on the International Space Station. The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft also docked at the American portion of the outpost after arriving on Oct. 6 with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina.

Via a control panel inside the station, Kekina extended the European robotic arm to survey the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft after the leak.

The next SpaceX Crew Dragon mission is scheduled to launch on February 19 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with two NASA astronauts, an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates and a Russian cosmonaut.

Two Russian resupply ships and the cargo ship Northrop Grumman Cygnus are also attached to the space station.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @employee.