When two cosmonauts want to leave the ISS for repair work, a warning signal suddenly goes off. The spacewalk must be canceled immediately. NASA is now announcing the reason for the breakdown: there is a leak in the Russian Soyuz capsule.
A planned spacewalk by two cosmonauts at the International Space Station (ISS) has been canceled due to technical problems. A warning signal went off before the exit hatch was opened, the Russian space agency Roskosmos said.
The US agency NASA spoke on Twitter of a coolant leak in the Russian Soyuz capsule – but at the same time gave the all-clear: “The spacecraft is in good condition and the Expedition 68 crew is safe.” Later, Roskosmos also confirmed a leak that is now to be investigated. According to CEO Sergei Krikalev, the impact of a micrometeorite could have caused the damage.
The two Russians Sergei Prokopjew and Dmitri Petelin should have left the station in the early hours of the morning to carry out repair work on the outside of the ISS. Prokopyev and Petelin flew to the ISS in the Soyuz capsule in September with NASA astronaut Frank Rubio. In addition to them, US astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann, her colleague Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and cosmonaut Anna Kikina are currently on board the station around 400 kilometers above the earth.
