11 Feb. () –
The Russian unmanned spacecraft ‘Progress MS-21’ has suffered an unscheduled depressurization while docked at the International Space Station, which it arrived on 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 the Russian news agency TASS.
The executive director of Roscosmos for the manned space program, Sergei Krikalev, has compared the situation to that suffered in December by the ‘Soyuz MS-22’ ship, in which the leak was later linked to the impact of a micrometeor.
“We have to carry out a deep analysis to make sure that it is not reproduced in similar designs in future releases. It is the main task before us,” Krikalev explained.
Specifically, the materials used and the technology for the assembly of the radiator will be studied. “The most important thing is that it is not some kind of systematic error,” he insisted.
The ship is scheduled to return to Earth on February 18 and is currently isolated from the rest of the space station, where seven astronauts are located.
