Here we are in a new chapter of yellow on the hole aboard a Soyuz spacecraft docked at the International Space Station, in 2018. After several attempts to close the hole, an operation that also required part of a spacewalk (EVA, extravehicular activity), the problem it was only partially resolved. Fortunately, the hole involved the part of Soyuz that was detached before the crew module began its return to Earth: the "crime" (if the hole was deliberately made by someone) had been well studied - it was such that it would have created problems for the ISS, but no problems for the crew on the way back.
After a series of surveys made by the astronauts it was discovered that the hole was made from inside the Soyuz, with a drill that bounced several times before being able to pierce the steel. A sign that most likely the operation was done in zero gravity, and this would have removed the suspicion that the error - or sabotage! - had been done on Earth, before the departure of the module.
The hole appeared, on first inspection, to be the product of an uncertain and trembling hand. © NASA
But now here's a twist. According to an article that appeared in TASS (news agency similar to ANSA), which reports some criticisms by the Americans of the work of Roscosmos (the Russian space agency) in recent years, in an interview with an official who asked to remain anonymous, for that situation the finger is pointed at a very specific person: Serena Maria Auñón-Chancellor, the only woman who was on board the ISS when the forum was discovered.
Why her? According to the anonymous official, Auñon-Chancellor was already suffering, when she was in flight, from the formation of thrombi in the jugular vein, a problem that was faced on her return to Earth.
This may have caused the astronaut to collapse, to the point that she would have devised a plan to cause a serious problem, which would have required the evacuation of the orbiting station. Look at random, continues the interviewee, the video camera that filmed the passage between the American module and the Russian spacecraft was out of use just in the days when the misdeed took place.
NASA's Human Spaceflight Officer Kathy Lueders immediately stepped in and, during the press conference on the delays that the Boeing Starliner spacecraft (which is expected to take astronauts to the ISS) is accumulating, told reporters that personal attacks against NASA astronaut and Expedition 56 flight engineer Serena Auñón-Chancellor are totally unfounded. "Serena is an extremely respected crew member who has served her country and made invaluable contributions to NASA," said Lueders firmly.
The accusation made through TASS and NASA's firm reply further increase - if possible - the chill that has existed for some time between NASA and Roscosmos, and which appears to be leading to a separation between the two space agencies. Examples are the fact that Roscosmos does not seem to want to participate in the construction of the Stargate, the Cislunar space station, in addition to the greater collaboration than in the past with China, both for lunar exploration and for other objectives.
Credit by: Focus
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