Engineering:Soyuz MS-09

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Soyuz MS-09
Soyuz MS-09 docked to the Rassvet module
Mission typeISS crew transport
OperatorRoscosmos
Mission duration196 days, 17 hours, 50 minutes
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftSoyuz MS No. 739
Spacecraft typeSoyuz MS (11F747)
ManufacturerEnergia
Crew
Crew size3
MembersSergey Prokopyev
Alexander Gerst
Serena Auñón-Chancellor
CallsignAltai
ExpeditionExpedition 56 / 57
Start of mission
Launch date6 June 2018, 11:12:41 (2018-06-06UTC11:12:41Z) UTC[1]
RocketSoyuz-FG
Launch siteBaikonur, Pad 1/5
ContractorRKTs Progress
End of mission
Landing date20 December 2018, 05:02:00 (2018-12-20UTC05:03Z) UTC[2]
Landing siteKazakh Steppe[2]
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth
Docking with ISS
Docking portRassvet nadir
Docking date8 June 2018, 13:01 UTC
Undocking date20 December 2018, 01:42 UTC[2]
Time docked194 days, 12 hours, 41 minutes

Mission insignia

From left: Prokopyev, Gerst and Auñón-Chancellor 

Soyuz MS-09 was a Soyuz spaceflight that launched on 6 June 2018.[1] It transported three members of the Expedition 56/57 crew to the International Space Station (ISS). MS-09 is the 138th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The crew consisted of a Russian commander along with an American and a German flight engineer. The mission ended at 05:02 UTC on 20 December 2018.[3] The European segment of the mission was called "Horizons".[4]

Crew

Prime crew
Position Crew
Commander Russia Sergey Prokopyev, Roscosmos
Expedition 56/57
First spaceflight
Flight engineer Germany Alexander Gerst, ESA
Expedition 56/57
Second spaceflight
Flight engineer United States Serena Auñón-Chancellor, NASA
Expedition 56/57
Only spaceflight
Backup crew
Position[5] Crew
Commander Russia Oleg Kononenko, Roscosmos
Flight engineer Canada David Saint-Jacques, CSA
Flight engineer United States Anne McClain, NASA

Air leak

During the night of 29 August 2018,[6] a small air leak in the ISS was noticed by ground control. A 2 mm (0.079 in) hole in the orbital module was discovered,[7] later stated to have been "hidden with a low-quality patch job".[8] Russian crew members used Kapton tape to temporarily seal the leak while a permanent fix was devised. The leak was successfully sealed with the use of a repair kit based on an epoxy sealant, and no further changes in air pressure were noted as of 31 August.[7][9] On 4 September 2018, it was announced that the hole was created by a drill, but it was unclear if it was accidental or deliberate.[10] Russian officials indicated the hole was some kind of sabotage, perhaps during the module's manufacturing process.[8] Russian officials even speculated that one of the NASA crew members had drilled the hole.[11]

On 11 December 2018, Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Prokopyev conducted an EVA, cutting into the thermal blankets and pulling away insulation in order to examine the external hull, take images of the area and retrieve samples of residue to be used in the investigation. As the hole was in the orbital module that is jettisoned before re-entry, the return flight was not endangered.[12] The return of the MS-09 crew was briefly delayed by the launch failure of Soyuz MS-10 (until the arrival of the next crew on MS-11). MS-09 landed on 20 December at about 05:03 UTC.[2]

Further reports and investigations were enacted thereafter.[13] Prokopyev was quoted as saying that the drill hole was made from the inside, but it is unclear when it was made.[14] According to NASA officials, they know exactly when the leak began and no US astronauts were reportedly near the Russian segment, where the Soyuz was docked.[15] In September 2019, the head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, claimed that Roscosmos knows exactly what happened but that the agency would keep this information secret.[16] On 20 April 2021, major Russian language tabloid Moskovskij Komsomolets published an article citing a Facebook post by Vadim Lukashevich which claimed that the hole was drilled by Serena Auñón-Chancellor, after a blood clot developed in her jugular vein (a medical case which did occur),[17][18] which was disputed by NASA and called "preposterous" by Ars Technica.[19] The results of a Roscosmos investigation were later handed over to "law enforcement authorities" in late 2021, with state media promoting a new theory: that Auñón-Chancellor drilled the hole while "due to suffering [psychologically] after a failed romantic relationship with one of the crew members".[20]

  • Hole in the Soyuz MS-09 module
    Hole in the Soyuz MS-09 module
  • The hole patched with epoxy
    The hole patched with epoxy
  • Oleg Kononenko on EVA to examine the external hull, standing on a Strela crane
    Oleg Kononenko on EVA to examine the external hull, standing on a Strela crane

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Evans, Ben (June 6, 2018). "Soyuz MS-09 Launches U.S., Russian, German Spacefarers to Space Station". AmericaSpace. https://www.americaspace.com/2018/06/06/soyuz-ms-09-launches-u-s-russian-german-spacefarers-to-space-station/. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Gebhardt, Chris (19 December 2018). "Soyuz MS-09 lands after unprecedented on-orbit repairs, inspections" (in en-US). https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/12/soyuz-ms-09-land-unprecedented-orbit-repairs/. 
  3. ↑ Gebhardt, Chris (2018-12-20). "Soyuz MS-09 lands after unprecedented on-orbit repairs, inspections" (in en-US). https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/12/soyuz-ms-09-land-unprecedented-orbit-repairs/. 
  4. ↑ "Soyuz MS-09, Horizons mission patch, 2018" (in en). https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2017/05/Soyuz_MS-09_Horizons_mission_patch_2018. 
  5. ↑ astronaut.ru (2013). "Орбитальные полёты". http://www.astronaut.ru/register/or_flight.htm. 
  6. ↑ Gebhardt, Chris (30 August 2018). "Soyuz/Station atmosphere leak no threat to Crew as repairs continue". https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/08/soyuz-station-leak-no-threat-repairs-continue/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Clark, Stephen (30 August 2018). "Cosmonauts plug small air leak on the International Space Station". Spaceflight Now. https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/08/30/cosmonauts-plug-small-air-leak-on-the-international-space-station/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Wehner, Mike (December 26, 2018). "What does it mean if the hole in the ISS was drilled from the inside?". https://bgr.com/2018/12/26/iss-hole-drilling-space-station-russia/. 
  9. ↑ Roscosmos (2018). "Роскосмос. Информационное сообщение". https://www.roscosmos.ru/25462/. 
  10. ↑ Harwood, William (4 September 2018). "Russians investigate cause of Soyuz leak, focus on human error". Spaceflight Now. https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/09/04/russians-investigate-cause-of-soyuz-leak-focus-on-human-error/. 
  11. ↑ "U.S., Russia Respond to Space Station Leak Rumors". The New York Times. 13 September 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/13/science/space-station-leak-russia.html. 
  12. ↑ Bergin, Chris. "Russian EVA examines hole repair area on Soyuz MS-09 – NASASpaceFlight.com". NASASpaceflight.com. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/12/russian-eva-hole-soyuz-ms-09/. 
  13. ↑ "Russian spacewalkers cut into Soyuz spaceship to inspect leak repair – Spaceflight Now". https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/12/11/russian-eva-45a/. 
  14. ↑ Mandelbaum, Ryan F. (December 25, 2018). "Report: ISS Hole Drilled From the Inside, Cosmonaut Says". https://gizmodo.com/report-iss-hole-drilled-from-the-inside-cosmonaut-say-1831309025. 
  15. ↑ Berger, Eric (August 13, 2021). "NASA stands by its astronaut after incendiary Russian claims". Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/08/nasa-stands-by-its-astronaut-after-incendiary-russian-claims/. 
  16. ↑ "NASA mystery: Russians 'know exactly what happened' to hole on international space station" (in en). Express.co.uk. 23 September 2019. https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1181524/nasa-news-iss-leak-us-and-russia-news-international-space-station-roscosmos. 
  17. ↑ "Whose holes are there in space? Moskovskij Komsomolets". translate.google.com. https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.mk.ru/science/2021/04/19/kosmonavt-atkov-nameknul-kto-prosverlil-dyru-v-soyuzems09.html. 
  18. ↑ David, Leonard (January 4, 2020). "An Astronaut Got a Blood Clot in Space. Here's How Doctors on Earth Fixed It." (in en). https://www.space.com/astronaut-suffers-blood-clot-on-space-station.html. 
  19. ↑ Berger, Eric (12 August 2021). "Russia's space program just threw a NASA astronaut under the bus". Ars Technica. https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/08/russias-space-program-just-threw-a-nasa-astronaut-under-the-bus/. 
  20. ↑ Dvorsky, George (December 1, 2021). "Saga of Tiny Drill Hole in the ISS Continues as Russia Sends Investigation to Police" (in en). G/O Media. https://gizmodo.com/saga-of-tiny-drill-hole-in-the-iss-continues-as-russia-1848143729. 



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