Russian cargo ship docked at space station loses pressure, but no risk to crew expected

An unlaunched Russian supply ship to the International Space Station has lost cabin pressure, a Russian space company reported Saturday, saying the incident did not pose a danger to the station’s crew.

Roscosmos said the door between the station and Progress MS-21 had been locked, so the loss of pressure would not affect the orbiting outpost.

“The temperature and pressure in the station are within the norm and there is no danger to the health and safety of the crew,” he said in a statement.

The space company did not say what could have caused the cargo ship to lose pressure.

Roscosmos noted that the cargo ship had been loaded with waste ahead of its scheduled disposal. The craft will be launched from the station and de-orbit to burn up in the atmosphere on February 18.

A separate ship brought supplies

The announcement came shortly after the new Russian cargo ship docked smoothly at the station there. Progress MS-22 delivers food, water, fuel and scientific equipment to the crew.

Roscosmos said the loss of pressure on Progress MS-21 did not affect the docking of the new cargo ship and “will not have an impact on the station’s future program.”

The depressurization of the cargo ship follows the incident in December with the Soyuz crew capsule, which was hit by a small meteoroid that left a small hole in the external radiator and sent coolant spewing into space.

Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, as well as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, were supposed to use the capsule to return to Earth in March, but Russian space officials decided that the higher temperature due to a coolant leak could be dangerous to use.

They decided to launch a new Soyuz capsule on February 20, so that the crew would have a lifeboat in case of an emergency.

But because it will travel in automatic mode to speed up the launch, the replacement crew will now have to wait until late summer or fall when the other capsule is ready. That means Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio will have to spend a few extra months on the station, possibly pushing the mission up to a year.

NASA participated in all discussions and agreed to the plan.

Besides Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio, the space station is home to NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada; Russian Anna Kikina; and Japan’s Koichi Wakata. The four boarded a SpaceX capsule last October.