ROSCOSMOS - Russian Vehicles patch.
Feb 12, 2023
Sergey Krikalev (former cosmonaut), Executive Director for Manned Space Programs of the Roscosmos State Corporation, spoke about the situation with the Progress MS-21 cargo spacecraft at the International Space Station.
Sergey Krikalev. Image Credit: Roscosmos
“On a cargo ship, which has been docked to the station for several months, there was a coolant leak from the thermal control system. The situation is somewhat similar to the one that happened with the Soyuz MS-22 manned spacecraft in mid-December 2022," he said.
According to him, at present, experts are thinking about how to examine in detail the leak on the Progress MS-21 radiator in order to find out the cause of its occurrence.
“In parallel, just like with the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, an analysis of the possible cause of the leak will now be carried out in terms of radiator assembly technologies, materials used and preparation of the spacecraft for launch. It looked when it was analyzed what happened to Soyuz MS-22,” he said.
Image above: Progress MS-21 (82P) cargo spacecraft arrival at ISS on October 28, 2022. Image Credits: Roscosmos/NASA.
Specialists need to make sure that this is not a systematic error, because it may affect the following ships.
“We need to conduct a deep analysis to make sure that this reason does not extend to similar designs on future launches. This is the most important task that we will face, ”Sergey Krikalev explained.
He noted that a commission has already begun to work, which will analyze all possible options for the causes of this leak.
Image above: Feb. 11, 2023: International Space Station Configuration. Five spaceships are parked at the space station including the Cygnus space freighter, the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endurance, and Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 crew ship and the Progress 82 and 83 resupply ships. Image Credit: NASA.
So far, according to him, the situation with Progress MS-21 has not led to a change in the ISS flight program.
“The Progress MS-21 spacecraft was supposed to be undocked and descent from orbit two days before the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, so this will not affect the work of the crew, this spacecraft has already worked its way out,” said Sergey Krikalev.
Related articles (Progress MS-21):
ISS - Depressurization in the Progress MS-21 (82P) cargo spacecraft
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/02/iss-depressurization-in-progress-ms-21.html
Progress 82 Cargo Craft Safely in Orbit Following Launch
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/10/progress-82-cargo-craft-safely-in-orbit.html
Related articles (Soyuz MS-22):
Решения госкомиссии по кораблю «Союз МС-22» и программе полета МКС / Decisions of the State Commission on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft and the ISS flight program (ROSCOSMOS Press Release): https://www.roscosmos.ru/38692/
Russia to launch mission to rescue stranded ISS crew after meteoroid strike
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2023/01/russia-to-launch-mission-to-rescue.html
Russia plans to send a Soyuz rescue ship to ISS
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/12/russia-plans-to-send-soyuz-rescue-ship.html
Controllers Evaluating Soyuz After Successful Thruster Test
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/12/controllers-evaluating-soyuz-after.html
NASA Provides Update on International Space Station Operations
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/12/nasa-provides-update-on-international.html
Spacewalk Cancelled, Mission Controllers Evaluate Leak on Soyuz
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2022/12/spacewalk-cancelled-mission-controllers.html
Related links:
ROSCOSMOS Press release: https://www.roscosmos.ru/38930/
ROSCOSMOS Press Release (Previous article): https://www.roscosmos.ru/38929/
Progress MS-21: https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/progress-ms-21/
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.roscosmos.ru/tag/mks/
Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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