The Russian unmanned spacecraft ‘Progress MS-21’ has suffered an unscheduled depressurization while docked at the International Space Station, where it arrived last Thursday with supplies.
The thermal control system has suffered a loss of coolant, although according to the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, the incident will not affect the mission, reports Russian news agency TASS.
Roscosmos executive director for the manned space program, Sergei Krikalev, has compared the situation to that suffered in December by the ‘Soyuz MS-22’ spacecraft, in which the leak was later linked to the impact of a micrometeor.
«We have to conduct a thorough analysis to make sure that it is not reproduced in similar designs in future launches. That’s the main task ahead of us,» Krikalev explained.
In particular, the materials used and the technology used to assemble the radiator will be studied. «The most important thing is that it is not some kind of systematic error,» he insisted.
The spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth on February 18 and is currently isolated from the rest of the space station, where there are seven astronauts.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
