The European robotic arm controlled by cosmonaut Anna Kikina surveys the Soyuz MS-22 crew ship after the detection of a leak that cancelled Wednesday’s spacewalk. Credit: NASA TV
Ground teams at Mission Control in Moscow continue to assess a coolant leak detected from the aft end of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station. As a result, the planned Dec.14 Roscosmos spacewalk was canceled to allow time to evaluate the fluid and potential impacts to the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft.
NASA and Roscosmos will continue to work together to determine the next course of action following the ongoing analysis. The crew members aboard the space station are safe, and were not in any danger during the leak.
The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft carried NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin into space after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 21.
Spacewalk Cancelled, Mission Controllers Evaluate Leak on Soyuz
Dec. 3, 2022: International Space Station Configuration. Six spaceships are parked at the space station including the Cygnus space freighter, the SpaceX Dragon cargo craft and Crew Dragon Endurance, and Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 crew ship and the Progress 81 and 82 resupply ships.
During preparations for this evening’s planned spacewalk by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, ground teams noticed significant leaking of an unknown substance from the aft portion of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the Rassvet module on the International Space Station. The spacewalk has been canceled, and ground teams in Moscow are evaluating the nature of the fluid and potential impacts to the integrity of the Soyuz spacecraft, which carried Prokopyev, Petelin, and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio into space after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 21.
Prokopyev and Petelin will exit out of the Poisk module at about 9:20 p.m. EST Prokopyev is wearing a Russian spacesuit with red stripes, while Petelin is wearing a Russian suit with blue stripes. This is the fourth spacewalk in Prokopyev’s career, and the second for Petelin. It is the 12th spacewalk at the station in 2022 and the 257th spacewalk for space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades.
Today’s spacewalk is a continuation of the duo’s previous space walk on Nov. 17 where they prepared the radiator for its relocation.
Cosmonauts Ready for Spacewalk, Astronauts Run Space Research
Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev lays cable on the Zvezda service module during a spacewalk on Aug. 15, 2018.
Two Expedition 68 crew members are making final preparations before exiting the International Space Station on Wednesday for the 12th spacewalk of the year. Meanwhile, the rest of the orbital residents kept up with advanced microgravity research operations.
The Roscosmos cosmonauts configured their Orlan spacesuits and reviewed their timeline today to prepare for the seven-hour spacewalk. Flight Engineer Anna Kikina joined the pair for the spacewalk review. She will assist the spacewalkers on Wednesday as she operates the European robotic arm maneuvering the radiator from Rassvet to Nauka.
As the spacewalk preparations were ongoing, a variety of life science was under way aboard the orbital lab throughout Tuesday. NASA Flight Engineers Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada kicked off Tuesday collecting their blood samples for processing and analysis. Mann then moved on and took turns with NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio nourishing biological samples for a study that explores how bones heal in space.
Cassada also unloaded life support gear from inside the Cygnus space freighter and activated the hardware inside the Quest airlock. Rubio began his day connecting components inside the Combustion Integrated Rack, a flames and fuels research device, before aiding Cassada with the Cygnus cargo transfers.
Astronaut Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) spent Tuesday morning inside the Kibo laboratory module servicing the NanoRacks External Platform that places and exposes experiments to the vacuum of space outside the station. The veteran station resident wrapped up his day setting up the Liquid Behavior investigation to study fluids in microgravity possibly advancing the design of space systems such as life support, vehicles, and fuel tanks.
Cosmonauts and Astronauts Ramping Up for a Pair of Spacewalks
Cosmonauts (from top) Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin work on an Orlan spacesuit inside the space station’s Poisk module.
Two spacewalks are planned in the next several days outside the International Space Station for the Expedition 68 crew. Meanwhile, science was still ongoing at the beginning of the week with space botany and physics work aboard the orbiting lab.
Prokopyev and Petelin spent Monday getting their suits and the Poisk airlock ready for Wednesday’s excursion. The duo configured their spacesuits’ life support and communications components then collected and organized the tools they will use during the spacewalk. They also closed the hatch and performed leak checks on the ISS Progress 82 resupply ship which is docked to Poisk just outside its airlock. Kikina primarily spent the day on life support and ventilation maintenance.
NASA Flight Engineers Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio will have their spacewalk together on Monday, Dec. 19. They will install their second roll-out solar array, or International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA), on the Port-4 (P4) truss segment. They installed their first iROSA on Dec. 3 on the station’s Starboard-4 truss segment opposite of the P4.
The two NASA astronauts spent some time on Monday reviewing the iROSA installation procedures and discussing the spacewalk with mission controllers on the ground. Flight Engineers Nicole Mann of NASA and Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) also participated in the review and the ground conference and will assist the two spacewalkers next week.
Cassada kicked off the workweek watering dwarf tomatoes growing inside the Veggie space botany facility for the Veg-05 experiment. Wakata transported physics research hardware from the Cygnus resupply ship to a research rack inside the Kibo laboratory module. Rubio collected carbon dioxide samples from life support hardware. Mann also assisted the cosmonauts helping them get their tools ready for Wednesday’s spacewalk.
