NASA Specialists Assisting Roscosmos to Identify Cause of Coolant Leak in Progress MS-21

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - NASA specialists are assisting Roscosmos to identify the cause of the loss of coolant in the Progress MS-21 cargo spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (ISS), the US space agency announced in a press release on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, Roscosmos said that the hull of the Progress MS-21 cargo ship had suffered unexpected depressurization in its coolant loop. The spacecraft has been docked to the ISS since October 2022 and is scheduled to undock on February 17.

"NASA specialists are assisting their Russian counterparts in the troubleshooting of the Progress 82 coolant leak. Officials are monitoring all International Space Station systems and are not tracking any other issues," the statement read.

The reason for the coolant loss is still being investigated, NASA said, stressing that the temperatures and pressures aboard the ISS are normal.

"The crew, which was informed of the cooling loop leak, is in no danger and continuing with normal space station operations," NASA said.

Roscosmos Human Space Flight Programs Executive Director Sergei Krikalev said earlier on Saturday that this incident appeared to be similar to the one that recently occurred on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft.

On December 14, a leak from the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft's cooling system occurred due to damage on the outer skin of its instrument and assembly compartment. The damage did not affect the living conditions of the crew on the ISS and it was decided that there is no need for an emergency evacuation.