MOSCOW, December 19. /TASS/. A preliminary inspection of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (ISS) revealed a tiny hole in the spaceship’s instrumentation compartment, Roscosmos Head Yury Borisov said on Monday.
"The preliminary inspection revealed that there is a tiny hole there measuring about 0.8mm, which caused the leak," the daily Izvestia quoted the Roscosmos chief as saying.
The Roscosmos head characterized the situation as "not very pleasant." However, he rejected the speculation that the temperature inside the spaceship had increased to plus 50 degrees Celsius.
On December 15, a drop in pressure in the Soyuz MS-22 manned spacecraft’s external cooling loop was recorded as Russian cosmonauts were preparing for their scheduled spacewalk. A visual inspection of the spacecraft from the orbital outpost confirmed the coolant leak, which cancelled the spacewalk.
As Roscosmos reported, Roscosmos flight controllers conducted a series of tests of the Soyuz MS-22 spaceship’s systems, including a test of its propulsion control system that involved short-term activation of its berthing and attitude thrusters. The tests revealed that there were no other faults found.
The temperature inside the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft has stabilized at plus 30 degrees Celsius, Roscosmos said.
"In the first days after the leak, the tests of the systems revealed that the temperature reached plus 30 degrees Celsius in the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft’s habitation module and plus 40 degrees Celsius in its instrumentation/equipment compartment. However, in the last few days, as the spaceship’s systems were switched off, the temperature in its compartments stabilized at plus 30 degrees Celsius," Roscosmos said.
The temperature increase inside the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is within acceptable limits and uncritical both for equipment and the cosmonauts’ health in case of their presence inside the spaceship, Roscosmos said.