Russia considering emergency rescue mission for space station astronauts after leak detected

‘The increase in temperature on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is admissible,’ Russian space agency said

Russia may send a rescue vessel to the International Space Station after an “unexplained leak” was detected earlier this month spewing particles into space from the orbiting laboratory’s Russian Soyuz crew capsule.

The “massive” external leak of snowflake-like particles was detected on 14 December from the rear section of the Soyuz MS-22 capsule docked to the space station.

Sergei Krikalev, who leads human spaceflight programs at the Russian space agency Roscosmos, told reporters at a press briefing on Thursday that the damage due to the leak was being assessed.

The leak led to the temperature within the crew section of the capsule rising to 30°C, the Associated Press reported on Monday.

Then the crew used ventilators in the Russian section to blow cold air into the capsule to reduce temperature, Roscosmos said.

“The increase in temperature on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is admissible and isn’t critical for the functioning of the equipment or health of the crew in case they need to be in the spacecraft,” the agency noted.

Nasa said in a statement that the two agencies are closely monitoring Soyuz spacecraft temperatures that currently “remain within acceptable limits.”

Mr Krikalev said if the analysis found that the capsule is unfit for crewed flight then a scheduled launch of another Soyuz capsule in March would be moved up to February.

The leak was first noted when pressure sensors in the spacecraft’s cooling loop showed low readings just when Russian cosmonauts were preparing to conduct a spacewalk.

Russian Mission Control then aborted the spacewalk after agency specialists on the ground saw a torrent of fluid and particles streaming from the Soyuz capsule on a live video feed from the ISS.

Nasa noted that none of the current members of the ISS crew - three US Nasa astronauts, three Russian cosmonauts, and a Japanese astronaut - was in any danger.

A Roscosmos official said the leak was likely caused by a micrometeorite striking one of the space station’s radiators.

A closer inspection of the capsule’s surface using a camera on a Canadian-built robotic arm helped spot the leak’s location, Nasa noted.