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Russia says space station leak could be deliberate sabotage
MOSCOW, Sept 4, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Russia launched checks Tuesday after its
space chief said an air leak on the International Space Station last week
could have been caused by deliberate sabotage.
Space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin said the hole detected Thursday in a
Russian space craft docked at the orbiting station was caused by a drill and
could have been done deliberately, either back on Earth or in space.
Astronauts used tape to seal the leak after it caused a small loss of
pressure that was not life-threatening.
“There were several attempts at drilling,” Rogozin said late Monday in
televised comments.
He added that the drill appeared to have been held by a “wavering hand.”
“What is this: a production defect or some premeditated actions?” he asked.
“We are checking the Earth version. But there is another version that we do
not rule out: deliberate interference in space.”
A commission will seek to identify the culprit by name, Rogozin said,
calling this a “matter of honour” for Russia’s Energiya space manufacturing
company that made the Soyuz.
Previously Rogozin had said the hole in the side of the Soyuz ship used to
ferry astronauts was most likely caused from outside by a tiny meteorite.
“We have already ruled out the meteorite version,” Rogozin said late
Monday.
The hole is in a section of the Soyuz ship that will not be used to carry
astronauts back to Earth.
Energiya will check all its Soyuz and Progress cargo craft for possible
defects, both at its production site outside Moscow and those awaiting launch
at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, RIA Novosti state news agency reported
Tuesday, citing a source in the space industry.
The ISS is one of the few areas of Russia-US cooperation that remains
unaffected by the slump in relations between the countries and Washington’s
sanctions.
Currently on the ISS are two cosmonauts from Russia and three NASA
astronauts as well as one German astronaut from the European Space Agency.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1521 hrs