An uncrewed Russian cargo spacecraft docked at the International Space Station on Saturday has leaked coolant, but the incident does not pose any danger to the station’s crew, according to Russia’s space agency and NASA.
Engineers at the Russian Mission Control Center outside Moscow first detected depressurization inside the Progress MS-21 cargo ship’s coolant loop, Roscosmos said.
The hatches between the station and the Progress MS-21 were temporarily locked so the incident didn’t affect the orbiting outpost.
“The temperature regime and pressure on board the ISS are normal, nothing threatens the life and health of the crew and they feel fine,” Roscosmos said.
Sergei Krikalev, head of Roscosmos’s crewed programs, clarified that there was depressurization of the craft’s coolant loop.
According to NASA, the hatches were reopened on the same day and the temperatures and pressures aboard the station are all normal. The U.S. space agency added that the station’s crew is continuing its normal operations and no other issues were found.
The uncrewed cargo spacecraft, which is filled with trash, was scheduled to undock from the space station and deorbit over the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 17, NASA said.
The announcement came shortly after another Progress craft, MS-22, docked successfully with the ISS earlier on Saturday. The Progress MS-22 delivered almost three tons of food, water and fuel along with scientific equipment for the crew.
The depressurization of the cargo craft’s coolant loop follows a similar incident in December with the Soyuz crew capsule, which was hit by a tiny meteoroid that left a small hole in the exterior radiator and sent coolant spewing into space.
The Soyuz craft are used to ferry crew to and from the station, while the Progress vessels deliver equipment and supplies.
The problem with the Soyuz has forced three of the current crew on the station—Russians Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio—to extend their mission. They will now return to Earth on a replacement Soyuz that Russia is due to launch on Feb. 20.
Russia and the United States still collaborate closely on the ISS despite the grave damage to their relations from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the moment there are seven crewmembers on board—three Americans, three Russians, and one Japanese.
