Crewmembers Are Trapped Aboard the International Space Station Until a Leak Is Fixed —Or Rescue Arrives

Things got dicey yesterday aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Late in the day, Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin were preparing for a spacewalk when exterior cameras showed a stream of white flakes pouring from the Soyuz spacecraft attached to the station. Simultaneously, telemetry indicated a drop in pressure in the Soyuz’s coolant tank, indicating that it was the source of the leak. Ground controllers ordered Prokopyev and Petelin, who were already suited up and preparing to exit the station, to scrub the spacewalk and stay indoors until the problem could be sorted out. The development is a troubling one that could spell peril for the crew. The Soyuz that sprung the leak lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 21, carrying Prokopyev, Petelin, and American astronaut Frank Rubio aloft. Spacecraft that bring crew members to the ISS remain docked to the station throughout the crew’s stay to serve both as their ride home and as a lifeboat in the event that an emergency requires them to evacuate on short notice. If the Soyuz is unsafe, the three crew members would have no immediate means of returning to Earth—and for now the outlook for the Soyuz is not good. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Rob Navias, NASA TV commentator, described the leak as “fairly significant,” adding, “No decisions have been made regarding the integrity of the Soyuz…or what the next course of actio...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate Space Source Type: news