Last week, a minor leak was detected on the International Space Station, but the event solved out without any other incidents. The ISS astronauts found the hole in the module where the Russian rocket Soyuz is docked. Now, Russia says this might be the result of deliberate sabotage of the Soyuz rocket.
Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian space agency’s chief, claims that the hole in the hull of the Soyuz rocket is the result of a drill which could’ve been deliberately conducted either on Earth, before launch, or in space.
“There were several attempts at drilling. What is this: a production defect or some premeditated actions? We are checking the Earth version. But there is another version that we do not rule out: deliberate interference in space,” stated Rogozin.
A newly-formed commission will look for an answer to this situation and, eventually, for a culprit, as this is a “matter of honor” for the Russian company that manufactures the Soyuz rockets, Energiya.
The theory of a meteorite impact ruled out, as the hypothesis of deliberate sabotage wins ground
While previously Rogozin and his colleagues stated that a small meteorite impact caused the leak, now the Russians changed their mind and ruled out that version.
“We have already ruled out the meteorite version,” Rogozin claimed late Monday.
Although the hole in the Soyuz rocket’s hull is in an area that’s not affecting the ship’s operations, Russian company Energiya stated its personnel would verify all the other Soyuz and Progress cargo spaceships for potential human-made defects. They will check for deliberate sabotage signs in both the ships at the enterprise’s manufacturing center in Moscow and those stationed at Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
In the meantime, the ISS, currently inhabited by two Russians, three Americans, and one German, will continue its activities as usual.
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