Spacewalks planned this week for the International Space Station (ISS) have been postponed following the discovery of a coolant leak, NASA announced.
The leak was reported by Roscosmos flight controllers. Evidence of residual coolant droplets was also seen in video from NASA’s external station cameras.
The seepage has stopped and teams on the ground continue to investigate its cause, NASA said.
Astronauts Loral O’Hara (NASA) and Andreas Mogensen (European Space Agency) had been scheduled to conduct a six-hour spacewalk Thursday to collect microorganism samples from the exterior of the ISS orbital complex. They were also scheduled to replace a high-definition camera on the port truss of the ISS.Â
“NASA engineering and flight control teams are continuing to review data and video associated with a coolant leak from a backup radiator on the station’s Nauka multipurpose laboratory module (MLM),” NASA said in a statement. “Two United States segment spacewalks originally scheduled for Thursday, October 12, and Friday, October 20, have been postponed until the review is complete. New dates will be announced later.”
