Space sweeper

Russian astronauts were preparing to swim in space yesterday to inspect a small hole in a Russian spacecraft bound for the International Space Station.

Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Rokopiev must examine the outer wall of the Soyuz M-90 probe, obtain trace samples in the area of ​​the hole and place them in a thermal blanket, the NASA's US space agency said in a statement.

The hole was discovered last August, when an atmospheric pressure leak was detected in the Russian sector of the space station, and the crew of the spacecraft broke through the hole a few hours after its discovery.

Since then, "the space station has maintained a constant level of atmospheric pressure," according to NASA's statement.

The cause of the hole has been predicted in various ways, ranging from the possibility of the impact of a small meteorite to the possibility of an error when badembling the spacecraft.