The Space Station Science Module Arrived at SpaceX’s Dragon Capsule for a Spacewalk Between Russia, Japan, and NASA
A new science module arrived at the station last summer and that was expected to be moved by the two cosmonauts during their spacewalk. The spacewalk was stopped before it even began after ground teams discovered a leak.
A leak in a capsule that was supposed to bring two cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut back to Earth left them without a ride home.
The integrity of the Soyuz is also being evaluated by ground teams in Houston and Moscow. The trio is scheduled to return in the capsule in late March.
“We decided tonight to focus on figuring out what is going on with the Russian ship and then regroup tomorrow,” said NASA Chief Flight Director Emily Nelson.
Russian mission controllers told the crew of the space station to not open window shutters because of a suspected coolant leak, and asked the cosmonauts to photograph at the best resolution they could to find out how bad the leak is. Anna Kikina used the robotic arm of the station to look at the craft.
Four other people are on the station: Russia’s Anna Kikina, Japan’s Koichi Wakata, and NASA’s Nicole Mann. Those four arrived on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule on Oct. 5. That capsule is only capable of transporting up to four crewmembers back home.
The investigation of a Russian spacecraft with a leak in its cooling loop for cosmonauts and astronauts at the International Space Station
The decision to delay was made after NASA confirmed that a separate Russian vehicle, a Progress spacecraft designed to carry cargo that had docked with the space station on February 11, had a similar coolant leak.
Roscosmos was aiming to launch the MS-23 replacement capsule this month and return cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dimitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio home.
“The reason for the loss of coolant in the Progress 82 spacecraft is being investigated,” NASA said in a Saturday statement on its site. There are no problems with temperatures or pressures at the station, and the hatch between the station and Progress 82 is open. The crew is fine and continuing with normal activities even though they were aware of the cooling loop leak.
New images of the vehicle have been shared by Roscosmos, it said was proof that the vehicle had sustained external damage that caused the leak.
Russia’s space agency is preparing to launch a mission on Friday to provide a ride for two cosmonauts and one U.S. astronaut who are on the International Space Station without a designated ship to get home.
The three crew members who were brought to the international space station in the fall were forced to return to earth because of a leak in their cooling loop.
Following an investigation into the leak, Roscosmos engineers determined that the craft wouldn’t be viable for a normal return mission to Earth. It would still be available in the case of an emergency evacuation from the space station.
Roscosmos Launches Space Launch Vehicle Soyuz MS-23 Towards The International Space Station: Implications for the Space Station Coolant Leak
Roscosmos announced on Monday that a state commission had issued a permit approving the launch of the replacement ship, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Liftoff of the capsule, called the Soyuz MS-23, took place out of Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in Kazakhstan on Thursday at 7:24 p.m. ET, which is 5:24 a.m. Friday local time.
The uncrewed spacecraft will spend about two days in orbit, maneuvering toward the International Space Station It’s expected to dock with the Poisk module — which is on the space station’s Russian-run portion — just after 8 p.m. ET Saturday.
Rather than flying with crew members aboard, the Soyuz MS-23 launched on Thursday with only a “Zero-G indicator,” which can be any object that is left in the cabin and is designed to float freely when the capsule enters microgravity. The teddy bear is tethered inside the cabin for this mission.
Plans to launch the rescue vehicle, however, were drawn into question when a Russian cargo ship, called Progress, experienced a similar coolant leak after docking with the space station on February 11. According to a post on Telegram, the agency would delay the launch of the space vehicle until at least March as it investigated the cause of the leak.
On Tuesday, however, Roscosmos said in an updated Telegram post that it had determined the cause of the Progress spacecraft leak was “external influences.”
“They formed a state commission that is assessing the anomalies,” she added, noting that the team is analyzing potential causes from the time the capsules launched through their journey in orbit.
Originally, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara were expected to launch to the space station on March 16 aboard MS-23.
Instead, Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio’s time will be extended on the space station until they can return to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-23 later this year. That return could happen in September, according to a report from Russia state-run media outlet TASS.
The crew is in good health, and there is no reason to accelerate their journey home, according to the space station’s program manager.
The crew is “willing to help wherever we ask,” Montalbano said during a January 11 news conference. They are excited to be in space, excited to work and excited to do the research that we do aboard the space station. So they are ready to go with whatever decision that we give them.”
Shortly after those four arrive at the space station, NASA’s Crew-5 astronauts will return home from their five-month stay there aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. There were no issues with Crew Dragon vehicles and the coolant leaks on the Progress vehicles wouldn’t have an impact on the missions, according to NASA officials.