Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Prokopyev during a spacewalk from the ISS opened micrometeorite protection of spacecraft “Soyuz MS-09” and found under it a hole. Samples of the sealant, which was closed on the hole and the surface around him Kononenko put in the insulating container. These samples will return to Earth for more detailed study.
To get to the hole, the astronauts had to cut two pieces of protective material, instead of one as previously planned. In this case, the material was not discovered track, which could remain in contact with the drill if the hole someone made on the inside of the ship.
During communication with MCC in the course of the study the holes on the “Union” Kononenko said that he sees around him some black-and-yellow of education. Apparently, it was a cloth impregnated with a sealant, which astronauts installed in the opening in August of this year.
Instead of the intended six and a half hours of Russian cosmonauts spent in space 7 hours and 45 minutes. But even with the delay, unfortunately, could not execute all planned tasks. For example, it was planned to pick up containers of the experiments of the “Test” and “Endurance”, left on the exposure to the module “Search”. However, these challenges were less of a priority. The main task was to study the cladding and the openings of the Soyuz spacecraft.
Recall that in August of this year, the crew of the International space station recorded an air leak on Board. After a thorough check of all systems in the hull of the ship “Soyuz MS-09”, pristykovatsya to the ISS a month earlier, was found a hole. To solve the problem, on the advice of mission control Center, Russian cosmonauts filled the hole with sealant.
Immediately after the incident, there have been several assumptions of what happened – from factory defects and ending with a diversion from one of the NASA astronauts. The Board of RSC Energia, the enterprise that brought together the spacecraft “Soyuz MS-09”, a version of the production marriage rule. The Americans deny their involvement. Who will be to blame?
Investigating the incident involved the Commission of Roskosmos.
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