The hole in the Soyuz spacecraft - a risk for Gerst?

The leak in the Soyuz spacecraft was tiny and it was closed. But the cause is not known. Now Alexander Gerst flies with this space ship to earth. The riska nt is?

Jan-Claudius Hanika., BR

29. August 2018, the Flight network heads registered on the earth a slight drop in pressure aboard the International space station. Apparently, the air escaped into space. The astronauts on Board were looking for a day long. Then they discovered the cause for the pressure loss: a hole about two millimeters in diameter in a hard to reach place in the Soyuz space ship, the MS-09, which is docked to the ISS. Thus, Alexander Gerst, the astronaut Serena Auñón goods-Chancellor and the cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev in the 6. June to the ISS flown. 20. December to return with him.

Alexander Gerst is preparing to exit into space. The recording dates from September 2018.

After the leak had been found, fed Prokopyev it with an epoxy resin impregnated special cloth. From there, the cabin pressure was in the ISS stable again. Initially it was thought that a piece of space junk or a tiny meteor could have hit the hole in the spaceship. That was obvious, because the ISS often have to Dodge smaller objects on a collision course with her.

a Little later, a photo appeared on the Internet, to originate from a NASA Video. The hole in the Soyuz spacecraft, as well as traces of holes were supposed to see. In Russian media the leak sparked wild speculation. It has been speculated that a US Astronaut on Board the ISS, have it drilled intentionally to be able to quickly return to the earth. The Russian space Agency Roskosmos rejected the speculation as "absolutely unacceptable", from the castle, however, is that the hole could actually be intentionally drilled.

another assumption was that the hole could be in the case of RKK Energiya, the Russian manufacturer of the Soyuz spacecraft. A worker got it drilled unintentionally and, to cover up his mistake, closed with glue. This I held for two months, then the glue in the Orbit was dried, and after outside pressed.

the ISS docked Soyuz space ship, the MS-09, with the Gerst flies back.

In the case of an outdoor use on 11. December examined two Russian cosmonauts, the shell of the Soyuz spacecraft. Oleg Kononenko put in the hole from the outside. His colleague Sergey Prokopyev and he took photos and Videos of the leak. They also took samples of the outer wall of the Soyuz capsule. These samples take Alexander Gerst and his companions in the Soyuz capsule to the earth, so that Russian experts can examine you.