NASA, Roscosmos evaluate Soyuz spacecraft leak after successful test of thrusters

NASA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, continue to evaluate the coolant leak from the latter's Soyuz MS-22 crew ship docked to the Rassvet module of the International Space Station. The external cooling loop of the Soyuz was identified as the source of the leak.

A successful test of the Soyuz MS-22 thrusters was also conducted on December 16 and the systems that were tested were nominal. Temperatures and humidity within the docked Soyuz spacecraft are within acceptable limits.

The mission controllers continue to assess additional Soyuz systems, the U.S. space agency said in a statement on Friday.

NASA is supporting the investigation using the Canadarm2 robotic arm to provide additional viewing of the Soyuz exterior on Sunday, December 18. The agency has also deferred the upcoming U.S. spacewalk to install an International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA), from Monday, December 19 to Wednesday, December 21.

The Soyuz capsule leak was first detected around 7:45 p.m. EST on December 14, when data pressure sensors in the cooling loop showed low readings. When the leak was detected, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin were gearing up for a spacewalk. The two cosmonauts did not exit the space station, and no crew members were exposed to the leaking coolant.

Roscosmos has also indefinitely postponed the December 21 spacewalk as an investigation of the Soyuz spacecraft is underway.

Mission controllers continue evaluating an external leak on the Soyuz MS-22 crew ship after identifying the source of the leak and conducting a successful thruster test. https://t.co/8UYi4TZPao

— International Space Station (@Space_Station) December 16, 2022

The Russian Soyuz MS-22 crew ship carried three crew members - NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin - into space after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on September 21.