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ISS cosmonauts prepare to get closer look at strange leak outside Soyuz spacecraft

Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Sergei Prokopyev will conduct a six-hour spacewalk.

|Dec 11, 2018, 16:58:23 IST

Two Russian cosmonauts are preparing to venture outside the International Space Station to inspect a section where a mysterious leak has been discovered.The leak was spotted on 30 August in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft attached to the station. The crew quickly located and sealed the tiny hole that created a slight loss of pressure, and space officials said the station has remained safe to operate.[caption id="attachment_4399473" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

A Soyuz-FG rocket awaiting launch.[/caption]Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Sergei Prokopyev will conduct a six-hour spacewalk on 12 December to inspect the Soyuz’s outer surface. They will uncover the thermal insulation covering the patched hole and take samples that would be studied by experts.Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin has previously said that the hole could have been drilled during manufacturing or while in orbit.

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