There was a leak on another Russian spaceship docked to the ISS. This time on “progress ms-21”, which was launched in October 2022 as part of the 82nd resupply mission to the International Space Station.

“roskosmos” reported that the ship “lost pressure in the external cooling system” – the seven crew members who were on board the orbital laboratory were not injured. NASA says that the hatch between the ship and the station is open. (It is noteworthy that the accident occurred a few hours after the docking of another Russian supply ship with the ISS — Progress MS-22).

Although the corporation’s initial statement on the depressurization was vague, the ex-head of the Roskosmos press service later wrote on Telegram that it was a “refrigerant leak.”

This is the second Russian spacecraft to experience a similar incident less than two months after being on the space station. On the night of December 15, 2022, when two astronauts were preparing to go into outer space, the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, docked with the Dawn module, began to leak coolant uncontrollably.

This ship was supposed to return to Earth in March the Russian cosmonauts Prokopiev and Petelin, as well as Frank Rubio from NASA. In the end, Russian engineers announced that “a micrometeorite got into the external cooling circuit” and considered it dangerous for the flight of astronauts. In January, Roskosmos and NASA officials announced that the Soyuz replacement would launch and dock with the station in February, with the crew returning home later in 2023. The malfunctioning “Soyuz MS-22” will most likely autonomously fly to earth in March.

It is not clear how the “Progress” and “Soyuz” spacecraft accidents are directly related. However, according to one NASA source, some preliminary camera data was received that indicated a similar cooling problem, with “plates” of refrigerant coming off the craft.

Roscosmos said on Saturday that the accident “will not affect the future program of the station”. “progress ms-21” was loaded with garbage and other materials that need to be removed from the ISS, it was supposed to launch this week and burn up when entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

Another “micrometeorite impact” for the second time in two months seems unlikely, and there are also doubts as to whether it was really the cause of the first accident. Russia has not released confirmation of the strike, so maybe it’s just a manufacturing defect.

NASA is still working with Russia to continue operating the ISS. The latest leaks are just two of a series of recent problems, including a Science Module engine malfunction in 2021 and a Soyuz rocket failure in 2018 that forced astronauts to make an emergency return to Earth.

In December 2022, the media reported that the future partner of the United States in the creation of the near-lunar station Lunar Gateway as part of the Artemis mission will probably be the UAE. Back in 2017, it was assumed that Russia would also take part in the construction, and already in 2021 representatives of Roscosmos were excluded from the project’s expert group.

Media: The UAE will replace Russia in the Artemis program and create the Lunar Gateway gateway module – NASA’s future near-lunar station

Source: NASA, Arstechnica