What happens with the drilling history of the ISS?

A small hole in a Soyuz spacecraft attached to the International Space Station has turned into a strange international phone game.

Scientists immediately determined that the pressure leak in the capsule attached to the ISS, detected for the first time on August 30, was not a big problem – the astronauts were never in danger of running out of air or to be sucked into space. But back on Earth, the CEO of the Russian space agency Roscosmos suggested sabotage, saying it did not exclude that the hole had been made by "deliberate deterioration". Russian leaders accused US astronauts of secretly drilling the hole.

On August 30, NASA reported for the first time signs of a tiny pressure leak in the ISS and felt that astronauts were not in danger. The analysis revealed that the leak came from a hole in the Soyuz MS-09 docked at the ISS, which arrived in June. The astronauts repaired the hole with tape and then epoxy, correcting the problem. Some speculated in the beginning that the damage could have been caused by micrometeorite.

But then, everyone saw a picture of the hole, which certainly seemed to have been created from inside the capsule by a drill. Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said the hole may have been caused by an error in the manufacturing process. He did not rule out any options, including that someone drilled the hole intentionally, on Earth or in space.

"Now it's essential to [determine] the reason, to know the name of the one who is responsible, "said the CEO of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, at a press conference. "And we will discover, without fail."

But then, an anonymous source reportedly told Russian newspaper Kommersant that Roscosmos did not rule out the "deliberate sabotage" of American astronauts to send a sick astronaut home early. They also reported that Roscosmos asked NASA for security images. (Of course, reports in Russian state-controlled media can not be taken literally.)

The ISS station commander and NASA astronaut Drew Feustel denied any US involvement in the hole during an interview with ABC News:

"I can say unequivocally that the crew had nothing to do with it in orbit, no doubt, and I think it's really shameful and somewhat embarrassing to waste some time talking of something in which the crew was involved, "said Feustel. .

Today, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti published an article with a statement by Yury Borisov, Russian Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Space Industry, denying the suspicions of American astronauts. He stated that it was too early to speculate and asked people to wait for the publication of a report on the incident.

"It is absolutely inappropriate to [compromise the reputation] of our cosmonauts, or American astronauts, "said Borisov.

Gizmodo asked NASA to comment and update the message when we get news.

But at least one expert familiar with the construction of the Soyuz module told Gizmodo that it was absurd to suggest that someone could have punched the hole in space, due to the constraints of microgravity. "You have to push with enough force to penetrate both the fiberglass and the aluminum wall," Pablo De Leon, professor of extravehicular activity and space suit design at the Department of Space Studies, told Gizmodo. from the University of North Dakota. "It's mechanically difficult to do. You have no way to make sure with one hand in this particular space to make the hole with the second hand.

Essentially, the module is spherical and drilling holes in microgravity requires anchoring on something. It is possible that only one astronaut could stick to another to drill the hole, but "no one would put their situation in danger," De Leon said.

A quarrel between the United States and Russia, a mysterious hole in the ISS and accusations of sabotage have all the characteristics of a James Bond movie, but the truth is probably more commonplace. Nevertheless, we will not know what happened until the investigation is completed.

Russian translations provided by Marina Galperina.