Video grab from a NASA feed obtained December 15, 2022 shows liquid spraying from the aft end of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft. (AFP)
Russian space specialists believe they may have located the site of a leak on the outer shell of a Russian Soyuz capsule docked with the International Space Station (ISS).
The Russian space agency Roskosmos said in Moscow on Monday that the damage was probably localized.
Their findings are based on an examination of video images sent from the space station. "Specialists are continuing to examine the data received," the agency said. The temperature in the Soyuz-MS22 spacecraft was dropping, but was still within the normal range, it said.
The leak on the space capsule was first noticed on Thursday. In addition to the outer coating, a cooling unit was also damaged. A collision with a micrometeorite is considered to be a possible cause. A planned spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts had to be cancelled because of the defect.
Cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin and Anna Kikana are scheduled to return to Earth in the Soyuz in March. For the time being, Roskosmos and its US counterpart NASA see no danger for the safe operation of the ISS.
Roskosmos will decide on the capsule's suitability for flight at the end of December. The Interfax news agency reported that the launch of the next Russian spacecraft, Soyuz-MS23, was being considered as a back-up.
