This site may earn chapter commissions from the links on this page. Terms of utilize.

Astronauts scrambled final week to find and patch a small-scale hole in the International Space Station (ISS) that threatened to leak the station's atmosphere into infinite. The crew somewhen discovered a tiny puncture in the Russian Soyuz capsule docked to the station. The hole was first identified as a micrometeoroid puncture, but now that's looking less probable. Russia suggests this damage was caused either accidentally or on purpose by human easily. Did someone try to sabotage the ISS?

Authorities are adamant that the half-dozen-person crew of the ISS was not in danger at any point every bit they hunted for the leak. The hole caused a drop in cabin pressure, which is still something you want to accost even if it'due south non imminently deadly. Astronauts patched the hole with a special type of bonding record and the crisis was averted. Since the impairment was in the Russian module, Russia was tasked with the investigation.

At offset, anybody seemed content with this caption — afterward all, there are many thousands of space junk objects scattered effectually Globe that could have fabricated a hole that size. Merely now Russia has called the micrometeoroid crusade into question. Russia's Infinite agency chief Dmitry Rogozin said on a televised appearance that the damage is not consistent with an impact. He said the hole was from a drill, and that information technology appears the drill wavered, leaving scuff marks around the hole. NASA deleted the images information technology posted publicly with the micrometeoroid explanation attached, just they do look sort of like drill holes to the uninformed.

International_Space_Station

Every bit for whether or not this is a instance of sabotage, that depends on how exactly the hole got in that location. A Russian firm called Energia manufactured Soyuz capsules for the government, and employees in the past have made mistakes that led to like damage. In one instance, a technician drilled through the hull and attempted to hide the damage with epoxy. However, the damage was detected pre-flight, and the worker was fired.

Some have wondered if a resident of the ISS acquired the damage by accident or on purpose, but it's more likely this pigsty was present since the capsule was on the ground. It flew to the ISS in June carrying 3 passengers: Russia's Sergey Prokopyev, Germany'south Alexander Gerst, and the Serena Auñón-Chancellor of the US. Russian operators did not find any problems at the time, merely the hole may have been patched and after failed in orbit. NASA says information technology is withholding judgment until the Roscosmos investigatory committee completes its work.

At present read: Boeing and SpaceX Might Not Be Prepare for Manned Flights in 2022, Floating IBM Robot Ships Out to International Space Station, and International Infinite Station Soon to Be Coldest Place in Known Universe