Second Soyuz springs a leak, astronauts stuck on ISS for an extra month

Russia's space agency will hold off returning three astronauts from the International Space Station as it works with NASA to investigate a coolant leak issue that impacted an uncrewed freighter spacecraft last weekend. The Progress MS-21 – also known as the Progress 82 spacecraft – arrived at the floating space lab in October …

[Neil Barnes]

one possibility that has been floated is that a micrometeoroid pierced an exterior radiator.

One can't help wondering if rather than a micrometeoroid, the damage was caused by a bit of the untracked man-made junk up there... Perhaps LEO is getting a bit too hairy to sit in for any length of time, even without a Kessler event?

[Mishak]

A second theory

It's been reported else where (sorry, I don't recall where) that it would be very unlikely for micrometeoroid damage to have affected two radiators in such a short time frame*, so the possibility of a manufacturing defect is also being considered.

* although everyone knows that the fact that the probability is vanishingly small makes it a certainty!

[pmb00cs]

Re: A second theory

"Scientists have calculated that the chances of something so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one.

But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten."

God Bless Pterry

[BackToTheFuture]

Re: one possibility that has been floated is that a micrometeoroid pierced an exterior radiator.

Surely all they have to do is crack a space hen egg into the radiator?

[midgepad]

Soyuz,Proress

Is a Progress a Soyuz?

If not, how much commonality is there in those systems?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Soyuz,Proress

Soyuz is the crew-rated version; Progress is the cargo version.

There's a lot of commonality if you exclude the life-support systems.

[elsergiovolador]

Re: Soyuz,Proress

exclude the life-support systems.

Do you mean vodka drips?

[Arthur the cat]

Re: Soyuz,Proress

Do you mean vodka drips?

Not in zero g, it just oozes.

[Mark 85]

Reminds of the line from Armageddon... "American components, Russian Components, ALL MADE IN TAIWAN! "

[Anonymous Coward]

plan B

If I were a manager at SpaceX, I think I'd have a crew getting a Dragon capsule prepped, just in case.

[spold]

Re: plan B

...with surge pricing