Roscosmos: Russian spacecraft leak caused by external impact

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian space officials say a coolant leak from an uncrewed Russian supply ship docked at the International Space Station has resulted from an external impact and not a manufacturing flaw. The leak from the Progress MS-21 cargo ship was spotted on Feb. 11 and followed a similar leak from a Soyuz crew capsule in December. The new leak has prompted Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos to launch a probe to check whether it could have resulted from a manufacturing defect. Roscosmos declared Tuesday that the leak was caused by “external impact” similar to the one that caused December’s leak from the Soyuz crew capsule, which it said was struck by a tiny meteoroid.