NASA weakly defends astronaut over Russian state media accusations of ISS sabotage

Still spicy from the recent ISS car accidentRussian state news agency TASS alleges that a NASA astronaut deliberately damaged a docked Soyuz spacecraft in an attempt to facilitate a quick return to Earth, in an incident dating back to 2018. The claim is unfounded and outrageous, but you wouldn’t want to know it from NASA’s lukewarm response.

TASS leads the charge against NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor, who was a member of the Expedition 56/57 crew, with Alexander Gerst from ESA and Sergey Prokopyev from Roscosmos, from June 6, 2018 to December 20, 2018. TASS claims that an anonymous source told the news agency that Auñón-Chancellor developed deep vein thrombosis in orbit, a condition the source said could have made her mentally unstable, causing her to pierce a hole in the vessel Soyuz space to accelerate a return to Earth.

The claim is monstrously absurd and offensive, and NASA’s half-hearted response to the accusation leaves a lot to be desired.

I thought we were done with this stupid story, but apparently we weren’t. It all started on August 29, 2018, when small air pressure leak was detected on the International Space Station. The leak was attributed to the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft which launched to the ISS on June 6, 2018. The crew members temporarily sealed the 2 millimeter wide hole with Kapton tape and later with a epoxy-based sealer. Problem solved.

Russian authorities were quick to determine a cause. Initial speculation was that a micro-meteorite caused the fracture. This theory was eventually ruled out as it became apparent that the hole had been created from within. As a result, the Russian space agency Roscosmos claims that the hole was caused by a “faulty hand”, ie human error during manufacture, or “deliberate deterioration”, in reference to sabotage. Russian media went further, affirming that a sick NASA astronaut deliberately created the hole to speed up a quick return to the surface. That said, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev insisted that the hole was not drilled by a crew member.

The spacecraft eventually returned to Earth on December 20, 2018 without incident, but Roscosmos never disclosed the official reason for the hole. Russian media are now revisiting this theory following the The Nauka incident, in which a newly arrived mod inadvertently fired its thrusters, causing the ISS to perform 1.5 backflips before control was restored. In response to subsequent criticism from the US media, the state-run TASS organized a Publish on August 12 to counter 12 American claims against Roscosmos.

The message dealt with statements such as “Russia cannot keep the space infrastructure inherited from the USSR in working order” and “Russia designs ships and modules well, but builds and operates them poorly”, but the response to the claim that the Russian space program is now filled with problems, from air leaks to Nauka, hit well below the belt.

The author of the TASS report, Mikhail Kotov, claims to have received information from an anonymous senior official in the Russian space industry. Eric Berger, science journalist at Ars Technica suspects the source is Dmitry Rogozin, the general manager of Roscosmos, and he is probably not wrong.

The hole could not be drilled while the spacecraft was still on Earth because if there were any holes in it then the pressure in that spacecraft would drop immediately and it would not pass the proper tests, ”the source claims. by TASS (Russian to English translation provided by Google). Auñón-Chancellor, having developed the first known case of deep vein thrombosis in orbit (thrombosis occurs when a clot forms in one or more deep veins, causing pain and swelling in the legs), caused a “psychological crisis. acute “, forcing him to conjure a strategy” to accelerate his return to the planet “, speculates the source of TASS.

A scientific article from 2019 reported that an astronaut developed the disease as a result of prolonged exposure to microgravity conditions, but the identity of the astronaut has not been revealed.

Other alleged evidence includes a faulty video camera at the junction of the Russian and American segments, and the American refusal to have their astronauts undergo a polygraph test, while the Russian cosmonauts agreed to take the so-called lie detector. As the TASS article also states, the “Russian Federation has not had the opportunity to examine the tools and drills on the ISS for the presence of remnants of metal shavings from the ISS. of the hull of the domestic compartment of our vessel ”. Seven of the eight holes detected on the spacecraft (a single hole drilled through the hull) were drilled “as with rebounds from the drill, which instead speaks of drilling precisely in weightless conditions without the necessary support.” Finally, the random location of the holes suggests it was done by someone unfamiliar with building the Soyuz spacecraft, the article claims.

Writing to NASA Watch, former NASA employee Keith Cowing noted the storyline proposed in the TASS article “looks more like one of those wacky movie plots that Russia always seems to want to film on the ISS.” He described the article as “childish, defensive, and not the kind of thing a large space nation should publish to explain its problems.”

Cowing also raised a great point about how Auñón-Chancellor was revealed to have deep vein thrombosis. This is a big no-no, because it is a violation of an ISS code of conduct signed by Russia and other partners. As the code stipulates: “All personal health information, whether from medical follow-up, investigations or emergency medical events, should be treated as private medical information and should be transmitted privately and securely in accordance with proper procedures. established by the [Multilateral Medical Operations Panel]. “

During a unconnected Friday, Aug. 13 teleconference Kathy Lueders, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, expressed her opinion when asked to comment on the TASS article.

“Serena is an extremely respected crew member who has served her country and made an invaluable contribution to the agency,” said Lueders. “And I support Serena – we support Serena and her professional conduct, and I did not find this accusation credible.”

Lueders say again his position on Twitter, with Senator Bill Nelson coming in on his side Support.

NASA official statisticalelement on the subject is a bit disappointing, as it does not explicitly reject the accusation made in the TASS article:

All partners of the International Space Station are dedicated to the safety of the mission and the well-being of the crew. The partners of the International Space Station all participate in multiple reviews before each major station activity to assess and ensure the safety of all crew members. The hole detected in late August 2018 by the space station crew was quickly sealed, restoring airtight pressure to the station. Russian cosmonauts carried out a spacewalk in December to collect additional engineering data for Russian specialists on Earth and to examine the effectiveness of internal repair from the outside. The Soyuz spacecraft was carefully checked and deemed safe for the crew to return to Earth, which they did on December 20, 2018.

To protect their privacy, the agency will not discuss medical information about crew members.

Like Shepherd affirms, “NASA PR officials apparently weighed in on whether to defend their astronaut and respond to something patently ridiculous or, for the sake of convenience, avoid getting into a piss match with Roscosmos.” The space agency, it seems, “chose the latter,” he wrote.

This approach is understandable but also infuriating. Stronger words to condemn the accusation and staunch support from an unjustly slandered NASA astronaut were absolutely justified in my opinion. Additionally, the NASA statement, as far as I know, does not appear anywhere on the agency’s website. Unless there’s some context we’re missing, it looks like NASA could do more to defend its astronaut against this attack.