Russian cosmonauts at the International Space Station (ISS) have been asked to look for any evidence that could help find out the origin of a mysterious hole in the Soyuz ship docked to the station, a source from the space industry told Sputnik on Friday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th September, 2018) Russian cosmonauts at the International Space Station (ISS) have been asked to look for any evidence that could help find out the origin of a mysterious hole in the Soyuz ship docked to the station, a source from the space industry told Sputnik on Friday.
The hole, detected last week, caused a small loss of pressure, but the cosmonauts were able to fix the air leak.
"The cosmonauts have been asked to bring back to Earth all possible proof that could help determine why the hole appeared. While photo and video, as well as measurements made on the day of the hole discovery, have already been sent to Earth, now they [the cosmonauts] have been asked to take samples of the glue that held the material covering the drilled aluminum skin of the ship, find other traces, up to any shavings left after the drilling," the source said.
The evidence will be delivered to Earth in early October, with the first ship to return from the ISS.
Soyuz MS-09 will remain docked to the ISS until December. The living quarters where the small hole was found will disengage and burn down on atmospheric entry, while cosmonauts will land in a capsule.
The special commission of Russian Energia Rocket and Space Corporation is looking into the files on all people who could have had access to the ship at the post-production stage, but before it was sent to the spaceport, and left the company afterward.
"One of the versions under consideration is that one of the employees decided to take a revenge on the company in this way before resigning," a source said.
The commission initially found a suspect, but later had to clear the person, as the former employee never worked with the ship in question.
