Russia disposed of a leaky supply ship that had been docked at the International Space Station over the weekend, allowing it to burn up over the Pacific Ocean, according to NASA.
Managers of the Russian space agency Roscosmos decided to deorbit the Progress 82 cargo capsule with an engine burn Saturday night. They made the decision after undocking the ship the day prior to get a better look at its radiator, where they believed coolant was spraying out into space. No astronauts were aboard the discarded spacecraft, as it's not intended for passengers. NASA said the ship was loaded with trash.
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The disposal follows a depressurization alert onboard the spacecraft on Feb. 11, making it the second Russian spacecraft to spring a leak at the space station over the past two months. A Soyuz capsule for carrying humans also suffered a similar coolant leak in December 2022, leaving three crew members without a lifeboat.
UPDATE: Feb. 22, 2023, 11:29 a.m. EST Following Roscosmos' in-space inspection of the cargo ship and before it broke up over the ocean, the agency said external damage — not a manufacturing defect — caused the leak. The Russian space agency plans to launch a new empty passenger spaceship Thursday, Feb. 24, giving the three marooned crew a fresh return ride home. The new Soyuz MS-23 is expected to dock at the space station this weekend. But because of the shuffle in spacecraft, the astronaut and two cosmonauts won't come home until September, extending their time in space by six months. NASA officials said they are reviewing photos and data related to the leaks "in parallel" with their Russian counterparts.
After an investigation into the first leak, Russian and U.S. space officials believed a micrometeoroid smaller than a sharpened pencil tip had caused the puncture. The coolant seeping into space then, caught on live video, was intended to keep the cabin at a comfortable temperature.
"The entire NASA and Roscosmos team have continued to work together to investigate the cause of this situation, and we will continue to do so," said Jeff Arend, manager of NASA's space station engineering office, during a news conference Friday. "We'll know more in the coming days."
"We'll know more in the coming days."
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Both agencies previously determined the leaky crew capsule would be unfit to bring three men home, at risk of overheating. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, who arrived at the space station in September 2022, were supposed to be at the Earth-orbiting laboratory for only six months, with a return trip set for this March.
Despite the Russia-Ukraine war and geopolitical tensions between Russia and the United States, the two nations' space agencies have continued to work collaboratively at the space station.
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Joel Montalbano, NASA's space station program manager, said in January that the crew had taken the news well that their return ride was still TBD, were excited to be doing research in space, and were prepared to stay a full year if necessary.
"I may have to fly some more ice cream to reward them," he said then.
During a NASA news briefing Tuesday evening, U.S. space officials were pressed on the likelihood of two spacecraft suffering the same damage on the same part from some sort of space debris. Dana Hutcherson, a NASA manager for space station crew, said she didn't believe Roscosmos was suggesting the second leak was caused by a meteoroid.
"I think what they're really trying to understand is, are there any signs or signatures that somewhere along the spacecraft journey, whether it's launch or launch vehicle separation, there's some other external influence or damage that could have occurred that could have been a factor there," she said.
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