Tiny Meteorite May Have Caused Coolant Leak From Soyuz Capsule

Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin conduct a space walk outside the International Space Station on November 17.

Russian and NASA engineers are assessing a coolant leak from a Soyuz crew capsule docked with the International Space Station (ISS) that may have been caused by a micrometeorite strike. The coolant leak forced the last-minute cancellation of a spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts on December 14 and could potentially impact a return flight to Earth by three crew members. Russian space agency Roskosmos and the U.S. space agency said the leak on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft did not pose any danger to the astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS. On November 25, a space walk by Prokopyev and Petelin was also canceled due to technical problems related to the cooling system in a space suit. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here. With reporting by AFP