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Roscosmos and NASA are still evaluating the condition of the Soyuz MS-22 capsule, if necessary Russia will send a new spacecraft soon in March 2023. Photo/NASA/Space
The cause of the hole that resulted in the leak is still being investigated. However, Joel Montalbano, NASA’s ISS program manager, confirmed that the hole was not caused by the impact of the Geminid meteor.
“We have work to do to better understand if the leak was caused by a meteoroid or if there was a hardware problem,” Montalbano said as quoted by SINDOnews from the Space.com page on Saturday (12/24/2022).
Read also; Russian Soyuz spacecraft escapes, 7 astronauts on ISS are temporarily safe
On Sunday, December 18, 2022, NASA investigated the cause of the leak with a camera on the Canadarm2 station’s robotic arm. The investigation found a small hole in Soyuz MS-22, but it is not known how the hole appeared.
Another possibility is pieces of space junk. However, Sergei Krikalev, head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow, said such an object would be too small to be tracked from Earth because the hole is only 0.8 millimeters wide.
Russia and NASA are still evaluating whether the leaked Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is safe for repatriation of the International Space Station’s three crew members. If Soyuz MS-22 is deemed unsafe after it shot coolant into space on Dec. 14, Russia will immediately send a new replacement spacecraft.
“Our next crew is scheduled to fly (launch) in mid-March,” Sergei Krikalev said, during a press conference with NASA that was broadcast live.
Read also; Leaked Soyuz MS-22 capsules re-evaluated unfit for use
The launch is scheduled for mid-March from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with three people on board. Rapid tracking would result in unmanned launches weeks in advance.
(wib)
