The Soyuz spacecraft attached to the Earth-facing side of the International Space Station has suffered a coolant leak. As a result, a planned spacewalk Wednesday by Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin has been canceled, according to NASA.
The spacewalk was scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. PT to move a heat-dissipating radiator from the Rassvet module to Russia’s recently installed Nauka multi-purpose laboratory module, but a stream of particles was visible in the vision of the MS-22 Soyuz prior to the cosmonauts exiting the station. The astronauts on board are safe and the space station is in good condition, NASA said in a tweet on Wednesday evening.
“Tonight’s spacewalk has been canceled because of an observed leak of what is believed to be a cooling substance,” Rob Navias, from NASA communications, said during the broadcast.
The spacecraft carried both Prokopyev and Petelin to the station on Sept. 21, along with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, for the Soyuz MS-22 mission.
Navias said during the broadcast that the flakes were “indicative of a leak,” but that the substance has not been confirmed. The leak was coincident with a drop in pressure in one of the external cooling loops of the spacecraft. Experts at Roscosmos in Moscow are evaluating the leak and will assess whether it has caused any damage to the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft.
This is the second time the spacewalk to move the radiator has been canceled. Originally, the cosmonauts were scheduled to conduct their work on Nov. 25, but there was a problem with the water cooling loops in the cosmonaut’s suits.