MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. There are no fears about the safety of the crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Roscosmos Head Yury Borisov said in a live broadcast on the Rossiya-24 TV Channel on Wednesday.
"The temperature [on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft] has stabilized and has not exceeded 30 degrees Celsius lately. Today, we have no fears, primarily about the life of the crew on the ISS. The temperature has stabilized after we brought in air ducts there from the Russian segment and are maintaining the temperature regime by ventilators," the Roscosmos chief said.
The cosmonauts working on the ISS are fulfilling the planned scientific program and are capable of doing their work. The crew is morally and technically ready for any emergencies, and "their composure can only be admired," Borisov stressed.
Situation aboard ISS
On December 15, a drop in pressure in the docked 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 the Russian space agency 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.
On December 18, the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft’s external surface was inspected with the help of cameras aboard the space station. The analysis of the data transmitted to Earth helped detect a potential leak in the spacecraft’s instrumentation/equipment compartment. According to preliminary data, the damage could have been caused by a micrometeoroid or space debris striking the external cooling loop on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft’s instrumentation/equipment compartment.