Coolant leak at Russian spacecraft, station crew safe

The Russian space corporation and NASA reported that the International Space Station has lost coolant pressure and said the hatch between the station and the Progress MS-21 had been locked so the loss of pressure didn't affect the orbiting outpost.

Moscow:An uncrewed Russian supply ship docked at the International Space Station has lost coolant pressure, the Russian space corporation and NASA reported Saturday, saying the incident doesn't pose any danger to the station's crew. Roscosmos said the hatch between the station and the Progress MS-21 had been locked so the loss of pressure didn't affect the orbiting outpost.

"The temperature and pressure on board the station are within norms and there is no danger to health and safety of the crew it said in a statement. The initial statement from Roscosmos left it unclear whether the entire cargo ship or just some of its systems lost pressure, but Sergei Krikalev, head of Roscosmos' crewed programs, later clarified that there was depressurisation of the craft's coolant loop.

NASA said its specialists are assisting their Russian counterparts in the troubleshooting of the coolant leak. "Officials are monitoring all International Space Station systems and are not tracking any other issues," NASA said. "The crew, which was informed of the cooling loop leak, is in no danger and continuing with normal space station operations."

Roscosmos didn't say what may have caused the cargo ship to lose pressure. It noted that the cargo ship had already been loaded with waste prior to its scheduled disposal. The craft is set to be undocked from the station and deorbit to burn in the atmosphere on February 18. The announcement came shortly after a new Russian cargo ship docked smoothly at the station on Saturday. The Progress MS-22 delivered almost three tons of food, water and fuel along with scientific equipment for the crew.

Roscosmos said that the incident didn't affect the docking of the new cargo ship and "will have no impact on the future station program." The depressurisation of the cargo craft's coolant loop follows a similar incident in December with the Soyuz crew capsule, which was hit by a tiny meteoroid that left a small hole in the exterior radiator and sent coolant spewing into space.

Russian Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio were supposed to use the capsule to return to Earth in March, but Russian space officials decided that higher temperatures resulting from the coolant leak could make it dangerous to use. They decided to launch a new Soyuz capsule on Feb. 20 so the crew have a lifeboat in the event of an emergency.

But since it will travel in automatic mode to expedite the launch, a replacement crew will now have to wait until late summer or fall when another capsule is ready. It means that Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio will have to stay several extra months at the station, possibly pushing their mission to close to a year.

NASA took part in all the discussions and agreed with the plan. Besides Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio, the space station is home to NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada; Russian Anna Kikina; and Japan's Koichi Wakata. The four rode up on a SpaceX capsule last October. (AP)