Russian Spacecraft Leaks After Docking to International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) has recently experienced a second leak in one of its Russian spacecraft. This is the second incident to occur within months, as an earlier incident occurred when another Russian spacecraft docked to the ISS sprung a leak in April 2019.

This latest issue was identified by NASA and Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, on October 11th during routine inspections of the Soyuz MS-09 craft that had been docked at the station since June 2018. The cause of this particular leak is still unknown but it appears that coolant from an external tank used for thermal control systems onboard may have been leaking into space through a small hole measuring two millimeters wide.

Fortunately, however, no crew members were aboard either vessel at the time and there have not yet been any reports regarding potential damage or harm caused by this recent event; though further investigations are currently underway to determine how exactly such an occurrence could happen twice within such proximity. In addition, both agencies are also taking steps towards ensuring similar incidents do not reoccur while they continue with their mission objectives on board ISS without interruption or delay due to these unforeseen circumstances.