A spacewalk by two Russian astronauts aboard the Worldwide Area Station was canceled on the final minute after mission controllers observed a sprig of white particles leaking from an connected spacecraft.
The astronauts, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitriy Petelin, had already suited up and depressurized an airlock when their mission was referred to as off by NASA and Russia’s house company on Wednesday night time, at round 9:40 p.m. Japanese time.
They had been getting ready for a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk earlier than flight controllers in Moscow and Houston noticed the “important leaking of an unknown substance” from the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which was docked to a Russian module of the house station, NASA mentioned in a press release.
The issue, NASA mentioned later, was a coolant leak. Video from the U.S. house company confirmed a steady stream of snowflake-like white particles spraying out of the aspect of the spacecraft.
The leak, which continued for a number of hours, didn’t endanger the 2 astronauts or the remainder of the crew of the house station, which consists of three American, one Japanese and yet another Russian astronaut, NASA mentioned.
Russian specialists are working to “consider the fluid and potential impacts to the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft,” NASA mentioned. The Soyuz arrived on the ISS in September, bringing Mr. Prokopyev, Mr. Petelin and the American astronaut Frank Rubio. It’s scheduled to return the three to Earth in March and likewise serves as a “lifeboat” for the house station within the case of an emergency.
Mr. Prokopyev and Mr. Petelin had been planning to make use of Wednesday’s spacewalk to relocate a radiator from one module to a different on the house station. Their spacewalk had already been postponed as soon as final month due to defective cooling pumps of their spacesuits, in accordance with NASA. The Russian house company, Roscosmos, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Final November, a spacewalk by two U.S. astronauts was delayed over considerations that they might be endangered by close by house particles produced after Russia blew up considered one of its previous satellites in house. In 2019, what would have been the primary all-female spacewalk was referred to as off as a result of NASA didn’t have spacesuits that match the 2 astronauts.