Unexplained leak from docked Soyuz spacecraft cancels Russian ISS spacewalk By Reuters

By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) -A routine spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts aboard the Worldwide House Station (ISS) was referred to as off because it was about to start after flight controllers observed a stream of particles spewing from a docked Soyuz spacecraft, a NASA webcast confirmed.

The obvious leak, which was seen in NASA’s stay video feed and appeared as a torrent of snowflake-like particles spraying from the rear part of the Soyuz MS-22 capsule, appeared to be liquid escaping from the spacecraft, presumably coolant, a NASA commentator stated.

NASA stated not one of the seven members of the present Worldwide House Station (ISS) crew – three Russian cosmonauts, three U.S. NASA astronauts and a Japanese astronaut – have been considered in any hazard.

The mishap occurred simply earlier than two of the cosmonauts, crew commander Sergey Prokopyev and flight engineer Dimitri Petelin, suited up for a deliberate spacewalk to maneuver a radiator from one module to a different on the Russian phase of the ISS.

An official for Russia’s mission management operations close to Moscow was heard telling Prokopyev and Petelin in a radio transmission that their spacewalk was being canceled whereas engineers labored to find out the character and origin of the leak.

The NASA commentator on the livestream, Rob Navias, broadcasting from NASA’s Johnson House Middle in Houston, additionally stated the spacewalk was referred to as off due to the leak, which started about 7:45 p.m. EST (0130 GMT Thursday).

He stated the Soyuz craft arrived on the house station in September, bringing Prokopyev, Petelin and U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio to the ISS, and has remained connected to the Earth-facing aspect of the orbital laboratory outpost.

The spacewalk deliberate for Wednesday was postponed as soon as earlier than, in late November, due to defective cooling pumps within the cosmonauts’ spacesuits, Navias stated.

The spacewalk was to be the twelfth this 12 months on the ISS and the 257th within the historical past of the 20-year-old platform. Spacewalks are usually completed for house station meeting, upkeep and upgrades, in accordance with NASA.

Navias stated it was too quickly to know what implications the obvious leak may need for the longer term security and operation of that spacecraft, and whether or not it would pose any difficulties for returning crew to Earth on the finish of their mission.

The ISS, spanning the size of a U.S. soccer discipline, has been constantly occupied since 2000, operated by a U.S.-Russian-led partnership that features Canada, Japan and 11 European nations.