The space station commander categorically denies the flight of the crew

The head of the Russian Space Agency made a splash last week stating that a hole drilled on the side of the Soyuz ferry moored to the International Space Station Russians blame Soyuz's escape for human error, "either on Earth or in space." Station Commander Drew Feustel said on Tuesday that it certainly did not happen in orbit.

"I can say unequivocally that the crew has nothing to do with it in orbit, no doubt, and I think it's really ashamed and somewhat embarrassing that someone loses the time to talk about something in which the crew was involved, "said Feustel. in a space-to-ground interview with ABC News on Tuesday.

"The only thing the crew did was react appropriately, follow our emergency procedures, eventually locate this leak and plug the hole"In doing so, we ensured the continued operation of the space station, we ensured the ability of our crew to remain in orbit and continue to do the good work we are doing on the International Space Station."

Flight controllers in Houston and Moscow noted a slight drop in the station's internal atmospheric pressure on August 29th. The next day, the crew found the leak in the upper compartment of the Soyuz MS-09 probe. June.

Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Soyuz MS-09, the commander Sergey Prokopyev finally sealed the breach with a rag soaked in epoxy. The cabin pressure has remained stable since then and, in any case, the crew has never been in immediate danger. The upper compartment of the Soyuz is discarded before entering the atmosphere and can be sealed if the crew is on board if necessary.

The photographs clearly showed multiple scars caused by a drill and a small hole plugged by the cosmonauts.

According to the Russian media, a person on the ground would probably have pierced the hole before launching for an unknown reason, then applied a temporary patch that then gave way into space.

But Dmitry Rogozine, managing director of Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, said: "We consider all theories".

He said: "Energy Rocket and Space Corporation (Soyuz builder, RSC Energia) are honored to find the person in charge, to know if it was an accidental defect or a deliberate deterioration, and where it was done – either on Earth or in space. "

Feustel said the discovery of the leak "was certainly a shock for all of us".

"My hope is that the investigations really find out what happened that caused this hole clearly created by the man in the side of the spaceship," he told ABC News.

"It's going to be a story we'll be hearing about for a while," he said. "We certainly do not want this to happen again, and I hope the field teams will do their due diligence in trying to solve this problem because the implications for the space program are enormous, not just for us in the States. -United." but also in Russia and internationally for all partners. "

He said the crew did a "great job" of finding and plugging the leak and thanked the flight controllers in Moscow and Houston for "helping" us with the problem. "