Russia’s Soyuz rocket sees rise in temperature on space station, crew not in danger

Moscow:

The Russian space agency said on Friday that the temperature of the Soyuz capsule aboard the International Space Station has increased, but the crew is not in danger.

Roscosmos said a number of tests were carried out after the discovery of a coolant leak on Soyuz MS-22 and that the temperature in the capsule had risen to 30 °C (86 °F).

On Wednesday, the leak forced a last-minute postponement of a spacewalk by cosmonauts Sergei Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin.

The spacecraft is currently under evaluation to ensure that it can return the two Russian cosmonauts and their American colleague, Frank Rubio, back to Earth.

The “slight change in temperature,” Roscosmos said in a statement, “was not critical to the operation of the equipment and the comfort of the crew.”

Sergei Krikalev, a former cosmonaut who heads the crewed space flight program for Roscosmos, said the leak could have been caused by a small meteorite hitting the Soyuz.

Dramatic NASA TV images showed white particles resembling snowflakes billowing for hours from behind the ship.

According to NASA, “most of the fluid had drained out” by Thursday, but the coolant did not pose any danger to crew members who were not exposed after the spacewalk stopped.

American engineers also said, “The temperature and humidity inside the Soyuz spacecraft (…) are within acceptable limits.”

Meanwhile, flight controllers “successfully tested” the spacecraft’s thrusters on Friday, NASA said, with other evaluations in progress.

The spacewalk is now expected to take place on December 21.

Space has been a rare opportunity for cooperation between Moscow and Washington since the beginning of Russia’s intervention in Ukraine in February and Western sanctions that crippled ties between the two countries.

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