After working over the weekend to find out the cause of the problem with the Soyuz spacecraft on the International Space Station, Russian experts decided not to take any immediate action.
In a lengthy statement released Monday morning by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency said a small piece of debris disrupted an external cooling cycle from inside the Soyuz that radiates heat into space.
Working with NASA on Sunday to operate the Canadarm2 manipulator arm, Russian experts were able to get a clear look at the damaged area at the rear end of the Soyuz spacecraft. Although the area of the hole was about 0.8mm in diameter and small, it caused all the coolant in the outer loop to be discharged into space. Visual inspection found no other significant damage to the Soyuz vehicle from the debris impact.
Speaking to Russian media on Monday, the managing director of Roscosmos said that working groups of experts will spend about another week evaluating the issue. Yuri Borisov said that the decision on future steps will be taken on December 27. At this point, two options are being considered: returning the three crew members to Earth in a Soyuz MS-22, or autonomously flying the next Soyuz MS-23, the next in line, to the station for a return flight. This Soyuz could be ready for flight as early as February 19th.
In reality, the Soyuz is a durable spacecraft and was built to withstand several failures. Of course, Russian officials will want to use existing spacecraft to fly home if possible.
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