China News Agency, Moscow, February 13 (Reporter Tian Bing) Borisov, general manager of the Russian National Aerospace Corporation, said on the 13th that the emergency committee established by the company is comprehensively investigating the temperature control system of the "Progress MS-21" cargo spacecraft. Possible causes of seal failure.

　　Borisov said that in the past few months, two emergencies occurred on the International Space Station, both of which were related to damage to the temperature control system of the "Soyuz MS-22" manned spacecraft and the "Progress MS-21" cargo spacecraft.

They suffered the same damage, that is, coolant leaks and damage to the temperature regulation state, which may affect the safety of astronauts flying.

　　Regarding the cause of the damage to the temperature control system of the "Soyuz MS-22" manned spacecraft, Borisov said that the high-resolution pictures obtained by the Russian side showed that the shell of the relevant parts of the spacecraft was damaged.

The existence of this small hole gave people reason to believe that it was the external force that caused the failure of the spacecraft's temperature control system.

　　As for the abnormal situation that occurred on the "Progress MS-21" cargo spacecraft, Borisov said that measures are currently being taken to allow optical instruments to move to the location where the spacecraft's shell may be damaged and take pictures.

If there is indeed damage, it is speculated that the outer shell of the spacecraft may have also been hit by a meteorite or some kind of space junk.

But at present, in the absence of complete information, we have to examine all possibilities, including re-examining possible technical problems in the spacecraft manufacturing process, especially the production process of the temperature control system.

　　Borisov also stressed that the safety of the astronauts on the International Space Station will not be threatened in any way.

The leak occurred after the "Progress MS-22" cargo spacecraft docked with the space station. At that time, all the cargo that was planned to sink had been placed in the "Progress MS-21" cargo spacecraft.

The spacecraft was scheduled to deorbit on February 18 and crashed into the Pacific Ocean as planned.

　　The Russian National Aerospace Corporation announced on the 11th that there was a coolant leak on the "Progress MS-21" cargo spacecraft that was about to separate from the International Space Station.

In order to check the cause of the leak, the docking hatch of the spacecraft is currently closed and temporarily separated from the main body of the space station.

On December 15 last year, the company stated that a coolant leakage accident occurred in the temperature control system of the "Soyuz MS-22" manned spacecraft.

　　Borisov also said on the same day that until the cause of the possible failure is found and confirmed, the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft will be postponed until early March this year at the latest.

　　On January 11, the Russian National Aerospace Corporation announced that the "Soyuz MS-23" spacecraft will go to the International Space Station in unmanned mode on February 20 ahead of schedule to pick up three astronauts.

The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft will return to Earth unmanned.

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