Space: two Russians inspected hole found on ISS

Russian cosmonauts Igor Kononenko and Sergei Prokopiev on Tuesday made an exit into space to inspect the hole discovered in August in a Soyuz spacecraft moored to the International Space Station (ISS), which caused a slight depressurization of the orbital station in August. .

Seven hours of intervention for a two-millimeter hole. The two cosmonauts came out at 16:59 (in France) from the international space station, according to the Russian space agency Roskosmos. For seven hours and forty-five minutes, they worked with knives and scrapers, with difficulty, to pierce the protection of the vessel and to take a sample of material around the "small but dangerous" hole two millimeters wide. from the same source. The goal is to know if it was done in space or on Earth, Roskosmos had explained earlier.

Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Prokopyev completed a spacewalk lasting 7 hours and 45 minutes to inspect the Soyuz crew vehicle. https://t.co/Wqfx2ZyRG7pic.twitter.com/uogajeAZt3

A "unique" and "complex" mission. "It's a challenge, all the space events are interesting, but this one even more because it's really unique, complex," commented Oleg Kononenko in a video posted on the Roskosmos website. This is a mission "unprecedented in its complexity," Rosmosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said on Twitter.

The mission is particularly difficult because the Soyuz spacecraft, like the ISS, was not designed to undergo repairs when going out into space. It is in particular devoid of external ramps that would have allowed the cosmonauts to stick to it. "There is nothing, that's the problem," said Oleg Kononenko.

Elements necessary for the investigation. "The cosmonauts will take samples of any residue found on the hull and take digital images of the area before placing a new thermal blanket," NASA said in a statement. "The samples and images will provide additional information that will facilitate investigation into the cause of the pressure leak," the US agency added.

Initially, the Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovitchinin should have made this spacewalk but he was aboard the rocket Soyuz having failed two minutes after its takeoff on October 11, forcing the two occupants to a restless return on Earth.

A "premeditated act", according to the director of the Russian agency. On August 30, the two Russian occupants of the ISS had discovered "a two-millimeter hole through which our air was disappearing" on a Soyuz ship moored at the ISS. They had clogged it with three layers of airtight products. Less than a week after the discovery of the oxygen leak, which did not endanger the life of the ISS crew, the director of Roskosmos, Dmitri Rogozine, had created the astonishment by evoking a possible "premeditated act".

Several Russian officials had also had to firmly deny press reports that US ISS astronauts were suspected of having breached the hole, while the space sector is one of the few examples of Russia's still functioning cooperation. and the United States. Technical problems and malfunctions are not uncommon on board the ISS and most of the time without real danger for the crew.