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According to a new report by the Russian news agency TASS, the Russian vessel Soyuz, responsible for last week's flight aboard the International Space Station (ISS), may have received its wounds on Earth, based on from its manufacturer.
ISS controllers noticed a slight pressure drop on the night of August 29 and alerted crew members about it the next day. The astronauts traced the problem in a 2-millimeter (0.8-inch) hole in the upper "orbital module" of the Soyuz crew, who arrived at the station in June.
Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, commander of Soyuz, quickly repaired the hole with epoxy, apparently solving the problem. Pressure levels have been stable since, said NASA officials. (The escape has never endangered the crew members, pointed out the officials.) [Russia’s Crewed Soyuz Space Capsule Explained (Infographic)]
The space station astronauts repaired a small hole in the upper orbital module of the Soyuz MS-09 probe (left) on August 30, 2018. Russian space officials said the hole was probably caused by drilling on Earth ; the investigators are trying to figure out exactly what happened. Credit: NASA / Space.com
The cause of the hole remains under investigation. Early speculations focused on a possible micrometeoroid attack, but now, human error is strongly suspected. Indeed, the circular shape of the hole suggests a drilling accident, just like the neighboring marks on the wall of the module.
The incident could have taken place during the final assembly or testing of the Soyuz, according to the new report released today (6 September) by the Russian news agency TASS. Both activities take place in facilities managed by the Soyuz builder, the Russian aerospace company Energia, in the city of Korolyov, near Moscow.
"One of the possibilities is that the spacecraft may have been damaged in the final assembly hangar or could occur at the control and test station, which performed the final tests before sending the Spacecraft at Baikonur ". the aerospace industry told TASS, which pointed out that he has not confirmed such suspicions.
The Soyuz spacecraft, which is the only astronaut route to and from the ISS since the NASA space shuttle program, was removed in 2011 – from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The Soyuz have spent testing at the pressure chamber before going to the final assembly hangar of Energia, the source told TASS. And assembly and testing facilities are tightly controlled spaces, he added. (TASS qualifies the source of "he")
"Only those who have proper security clearances are allowed to enter," the source said. "In addition, at the entrance to the hangar and at the control and measurement station, security guards check all who come and go."
Energia is conducting an investigation into the Soyuz incident. And Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, is committed to finding the person or persons responsible.
The orbital module is a spherical part of the Soyuz that allows more gear to climb with the spaceship. Unlike the lower crew capsule, the orbital module does not survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @ michaeldwall and Google+. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally posted on Space.com.
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