A planned spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts was called off after ground controllers noticed a significant leak stemming from a Soyuz spacecraft docked with the International Space Station, causing an unknown substance to spew into space.
(Bloomberg) — A planned spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts was called off after ground controllers noticed a significant leak stemming from a Soyuz spacecraft docked with the International Space Station, causing an unknown substance to spew into space.
Live video of the exterior of the ISS aired on NASA TV showed a stream of particles emanating from the Soyuz for hours.
It wasn’t immediately clear what the material was, but it appeared to be coming from instrumentation on the Soyuz’s propulsion module and could be a cooling substance, according to NASA commentary.
The seven crew members on the ISS are safe, NASA said.
“We do not know what the source of this stream of particles is at the point,” Rob Navias, NASA’s commentator said during live coverage at the start of the spacewalk.
Discussions are ongoing “to make sure that the safety of the two spacewalkers is not compromised in any way. And then to determine what impact, if any, this might have on the integrity of that Soyuz vehicle.”
Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin were preparing to conduct a spacewalk to relocate an exterior radiator from one ISS module to another.
Flight controllers noticed the leak Thursday morning Moscow time as the cosmonauts were in one of the station’s airlocks, after they had donned their spacesuits. Asked about the leak, a NASA spokesperson pointed to a recent blog post, where the agency said “ground teams in Moscow are evaluating the nature of the fluid and potential impacts to the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft.”
“The experts in Moscow are going to be taking a look at their systems and responding to the leak according to their procedures and policies,” NASA Chief Flight Director Emily Nelson told Navias.
“Once they have a good understanding of the final status of the Soyuz tonight, we will then jointly make a decision about where to go forward from here.”
Prokopyev and Petelin rode on this Soyuz, along with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, to the ISS in September.
They are slated to return to Earth in the spring on the same spacecraft. It’s unclear how the leak will impact their return.
The ISS is operated by five space agencies from 15 countries and has been continuously occupied since 2000, according to NASA.
–With assistance from Bruce Einhorn.
(Updates with comments from NASA’s chief flight director)
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