Russia’s space program just threw a NASA astronaut under the bus:
Russia's state-owned news service, TASS, has published an extraordinarily defamatory article about NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor. The publication claims that Auñón-Chancellor had an emotional breakdown in space, then damaged a Russian spacecraft in order to return early. This, of course, is a complete fabrication.
The context for the article is the recent, near-disastrous docking of the Russian Nauka science module with the International Space Station. The TASS article attempts to rebut criticism in US publications (including Ars Technica) that covered the incident and raised questions about the future of the Roscosmos-NASA partnership in space.
One of a dozen rebuttals in the TASS article concerns a 2018 incident—a 2 mm breach in the orbital module of the Soyuz MS-09 vehicle docked with the International Space Station. Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, and NASA's Auñón-Chancellor had flown to the station inside this Soyuz in June. The leak was discovered in late August.
Previously:
(2020-09-05) Source of International Space Station Leak Still Not Found, NASA Says
(2018-12-13) Cosmonauts Cut Into Soyuz Docked at the ISS During Nearly 8-Hour Spacewalk
(2018-11-03) Roscosmos Completes Investigation into October Soyuz Failure, Finds Assembly Issue
(2018-10-03) Controversy Over ISS Leak Continues, Spacewalk Planned for November
(2018-09-14) NASA and Roscosmos Release Joint Statement on ISS Leak Amid Rumors
(2018-09-06) Russian Space Chief Vows to Find "Full Name" of Technician Who Caused ISS Leak
Related Stories
Last week, a pressure leak occurred on the International Space Station. It was slow and posed no immediate threat to the crew, with the atmosphere leaving the station at a rate such that depressurization of the station would have taken 14 days.
Eventually, US and Russian crew members traced the leak to a 2mm breach in the orbital module of the Soyuz MS-09 vehicle that had flown to the space station in June. The module had carried Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, and NASA's Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor.
[...] The drama might have ended there, as it was initially presumed that the breach had been caused by a tiny bit of orbital debris. However, recent Russian news reports have shown that the problem was, in fact, a manufacturing defect. It remains unclear whether the hole was an accidental error or intentional. There is evidence that a technician saw the drilling mistake and covered the hole with glue, which prevented the problem from being detected during a vacuum test.
Russian theory that NASA sabotaged the space station spreading like wildfire
As you may recall, a low-pressure leak occurred aboard the International Space Station in late August. Eventually the crews traced the leak to the orbital module of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft that had arrived at the station in June. After the problem was traced to what appears to be a manufacturing defect, the head of Russia's space program essentially called for the head of whoever made the error. Now, however, something entirely new is afoot in Russia. A growing number of Russian publications have been putting forth an absurd new theory—that a NASA astronaut deliberately caused the leak on board the station in order to force the evacuation of a sick crew member. The story has spread like wildfire during the last 24 hours, according to Robinson Mitchell, who translates Russian space stories for Ars.
One of the most prominent articles was published Wednesday in Kommersant, which says Russian investigators are vigorously pursuing the claim that Americans may have damaged the Soyuz deliberately. Publicly, Roscosmos leader Dmitry Rogozin was quoted as saying about Russia's investigation into the leak, "Results we have received do not give us an objective picture. The situation is much more complex than we earlier thought." Privately, however, several sources from the space agency are leaking much juicier comments to the Russian media. "Our Soyuz is next to the Rassvet (Dawn) module, right next to the hatch into the American segment of the station," one source told Kommersant. "Access to our ship is possible only with the permission of our commander, but we cannot exclude an unsanctioned access by the Americans."
After more speculation about cause of ISS leak, NASA issues another statement
A thorough Russian investigation of a leak that occurred in August in the orbital module of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which is attached to the International Space Station, will not be completed until November. But this week, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos reignited controversy about the leak with some comments during a television appearance.
A preliminary investigation, according to Russia's chief spaceflight official, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, "concluded that a manufacturing defect had been ruled out which is important to establish the truth." So if it wasn't a manufacturing defect, then what was it? As Rogozin did not say, this re-fueled speculation in some media reports that the hole was intentionally drilled by NASA astronauts in space. This theory is nonsensical, but it appears to play well to Russian audiences.
After these latest comments and with an imminent Soyuz spacecraft launch on October 11 that will carry NASA astronaut Nick Hague to the International Space Station, the US space agency felt the need to put out a new statement on Wednesday. It reads:
On Aug. 29, 2018 a small hole was discovered on the International Space Station. This resulted in a pressure leak. The hole has been identified and fixed by space station crew.
Russian media recently reported that General Director Rogozin said the hole was not a manufacturing defect. Ruling out a manufacturing defect indicates that this is an isolated issue which does not categorically affect future production.
This conclusion does not necessarily mean the hole was created intentionally or with mal-intent. NASA and Roscosmos are both investigating the incident to determine the cause. The International Space Station Program is tentatively planning a spacewalk in November to gather more information.
On October 11, American Astronaut Nick Hague and Russian Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin will launch to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Administrator Bridenstine is scheduled to attend the launch and plans to meet with Mr. Rogozin. This will be their first in-person meeting. They had a telephone call on September 12 during which they discussed the International Space Station leak.
Previously: Russian Space Chief Vows to Find "Full Name" of Technician Who Caused ISS Leak
NASA and Roscosmos Release Joint Statement on ISS Leak Amid Rumors
Humans are to blame for the October failure of the Soyuz rocket:
Roscosmos: An assembly error doomed our Soyuz, but we promise it won't happen again
The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, has completed its investigation into October's Soyuz mishap in record time, pointing the finger of blame at problems during assembly.
Mutterings emitted from the space agency earlier this week suggested that the issue was related to a sensor that detects stage separation of the booster. In yesterday's press conference, Roscosmos provided a few more details and shared a terrifying video[*] showing the moment things went bad for the Soyuz. It then gave the green light for putting a crew back on the thing next month.
The actual explosion was, according to the State Commission tasked with getting to the bottom of the mess, caused by one of the side boosters not separating correctly and striking the rocket core. This led to the depressurisation of a fuel tank and the loss of control of the booster. The problems start at 1:23 in the video.
Of course, the real question is why did the separation fail? The answer, according to Roscosmos, was a failure to open a nozzle at the top of the strap-on booster to vent its tank. This meant the booster did not separate cleanly. The nozzle failure was caused by a faulty contact sensor, which had been "bent" during assembly of the Soyuz at the Baikonur cosmodrome.
[*] [This appears to be the video. --Ed.]
Also at Inverse.
Previously: Soyuz Crew Vehicle Fails Mid-Flight, Astronauts OK
Soyuz Failure Narrowed Down to Collision Between Booster and Core Stage
Two Russian cosmonauts have removed samples from a Soyuz spacecraft docked at the International Space Station during a spacewalk. They used knives and shears to cut around the now-sealed 2mm hole in the Soyuz MS-09:
Expedition 57 flight engineers Oleg Kononenko and Sergey Prokopyev of the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos conducted the 7-hour and 45-minute spacewalk. The two cosmonauts worked on the exterior of the Russian Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, where the space station's crew had earlier found and repaired the leak from the inside.
[...] Today, Prokopyev joined Kononenko on a spacewalk to inspect the repair area from the outside in an effort to discover what caused the leak and to collect a sample of the epoxy that had extruded through the hole from the inside. To reach the area needed to perform the inspection, Kononenko rode at the end of two Russian Strela booms, translating from the Pirs docking compartment where the spacewalk began to the Zarya functional cargo block (FGB) and then up alongside the Soyuz. Prokopyev controlled the booms' motion from the opposite end, moving Kononenko into place, before shimmying up the second boom himself.
At the worksite, Kononenko and Prokopyev took turns using a knife and a pair of long-arm scissors to stab at and cut away layers of brown, gold and silvery insulation. As they cut into the spacecraft, small fragments of the material floated away and formed a cloud of debris. The two cosmonauts then used the same tools to cut into and peel away a thin metal orbital debris shield to expose the hole in the Soyuz MS-09's orbital compartment. [...] Kononenko used a pair of forceps and a swab to collect samples of the dark epoxy. The residue, stowed inside a bag, was brought back inside the space station and will be returned to Earth for analysis.
Also at BBC.
Previously: Russian Space Chief Vows to Find "Full Name" of Technician Who Caused ISS Leak
NASA and Roscosmos Release Joint Statement on ISS Leak Amid Rumors
Controversy Over ISS Leak Continues, Spacewalk Planned for November
Source of International Space Station leak still not found, NASA says - Business Insider:
Officials first noticed a leak last September, but they didn't do anything about it for nearly a year, since the leak wasn't major. Plus, station operations like space walks and crew exchanges kept crew members too busy to collect enough data about the issue.
Recently, however, technicians detected an increase to the already elevated leak rate. So NASA announced on August 20 that the three men aboard the station — NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner — would begin a hunt for the source.
That search is "taking longer than expected," NASA spokesman Daniel Huot told Business Insider last week.
Indeed, Huot said on Tuesday that technical teams were still reviewing the data collected by the crew. They've now ruled out most of the station's modules, Huot added, and should complete their review "in the coming days."
If specialists still can't pinpoint the leak after that, he said, they'll need a new action plan.
[...] In the event of an emergency on the space station, the crew members could return to Earth via the Soyuz MS-16 spaceship that's docked there. In a less extreme scenario, the crew could also cut off the leaking module and isolate it.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @05:10AM
So this is the serious space program everyone was talking about.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tangomargarine on Saturday August 14 2021, @05:17AM (36 children)
"Always plant a lie in a seed of truth."
Wouldn't surprise me if this SAC person did in fact have a minor freakout in space, but they made up the spacecraft damage. But of course, when people find out about the freakout, they believe the rest of the story.
I mean really...who are you going to confirm the story with? The cosmonauts would toe the party line, the astronauts would deny everything according to their own party line, and it's not like you can trust the government officials on either side for the same reason.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @05:23AM (10 children)
> The cosmonauts would toe the party line, the astronauts would deny everything according to their own party line
And we'll obey the outrage-bait that the freakout/damage /must/ be a lie.
We've had American Astronauts murder people (Lisa Nowak). It /is/ possible that the Russians are telling the truth.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Saturday August 14 2021, @05:26AM (3 children)
You sure about that? Wikipedia seems to think that she just assaulted somebody but didn't manage to off them.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @05:32AM (2 children)
Parity error there. Serious premeditated assault it was. I suppose since it wasn't murder but just everyday super-normal stalking then the Russian are lying about the perfect mental record of Astronauts.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by tangomargarine on Saturday August 14 2021, @05:48AM (1 child)
Not sure that we're actually in disagreement here.
I trust Russia--as long as Putin is in charge, which is apparently until he dies--about as much as I trusted anything that came out of Trump's mouth, i.e., a complete lie until demonstrated otherwise.
But see above; sometimes the world just serves you up something on a platter such that you don't even have to lie (much) about it. God knows the U.S. doesn't have an excuse to throw stones about shady shit going down these days.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 15 2021, @08:12PM
but who's funnier though? Putin, who smiles like a Cheshire cat every time he answers a question? or "grab em by the pussy" in-chief? We really missed out on some killer tv if they would have had a televised meeting/debate. good thing we have the kid sniffing reanimated corpse now.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @05:00PM
Russia's claim has more holes in it than a screen door. They expect us to believe that she undetectably sabotaged the cameras* on their side of the station so she could sneak through it to the Soyuz pod, drilled a hole with an electric drill without making noise or leaving behind any metal shavings, applied a bad patch to it, and then snuck back to the NASA side all without being noticed. And they conveniently figured it all out right after their Nauka screw-up made the news. Pull the other one, it has bells on it.
*The only evidence of a camera problem is that they don't have video of her doing any of this.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 14 2021, @05:28PM (4 children)
They aren't, of course, but it is possible. Don't we have something better to do than pretend to give credence to lies? Keep in mind that nobody is going on the record with these accusations. I bet even TASS is just saying that there are accusations.
The problem here is that the Nauka incident shows a huge safety slip by both the Russians and NASA. There should have been a panic button on board to shutdown the vehicle. Things got so out of control because nobody was in control at the crucial moments. Crazy astronauts can't do that.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 15 2021, @04:14AM (3 children)
Hey were you ever on To Catch a Predator? You seem like just the right kind of aging incel who would not only chat up and attempt to fuck a 12 year old, but also fail at it in a very public way.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday August 15 2021, @04:24AM (2 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 15 2021, @05:52AM
no u
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 15 2021, @07:33PM
In Soviet Russia, insults you!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Saturday August 14 2021, @06:14AM
Russia/Roscosmos has been looking to blame anyone and everyone for the Soyuz leak since it happened.The head of Roscosmos is probably still bitter that the U.S. did find that big trampoline [space.com] to get in to space.
Then a rather serious malfunction of the new Russian module endangers the space station (that docking port wasn't intended to have thrust applied to it) makes them look bad again.
So we have a re-iteration of earlier attempts to blame anyone at all rather than Roscosmos for a leaky Soyuz, now blaming it on someone who supposedly had a freak out trying to get an early return (by sabotaging the craft she would return in?!?)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by FatPhil on Saturday August 14 2021, @09:27AM (14 children)
This is a simple case of priming, trying to reinforce bias, and the fact that they can get away with such obvious examples shows the lack of critical skills in their intended audience.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @10:25AM (1 child)
Have to consider the source. ars Technica is NOT a trustworthy news source. I trust them maybe only slightly more than the Russians.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @07:07PM
I agree with you, except that I trust the Russians slightly more than ArsTechnica.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Opportunist on Saturday August 14 2021, @10:46AM (2 children)
TASS doesn't lie. It does just what everyone else does. It rephrases things. For example, back in the good old days of the cold war, when comparing the economies of the US and the USSR, what they wrote was basically "In comparison, the US are at an abysmal second-to-last place while the glorious Soviet Union comes in as an acceptable second".
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday August 15 2021, @09:51AM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Sunday August 15 2021, @10:16PM
Also in TASS news of 1986, we can report that glorious Soviet technology allowed hard Soviet workers in nuclear power plant of Chernobyl to pull off great feat of fulfilling 5 year plan of power production in mere 5 milliseconds.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by khallow on Saturday August 14 2021, @12:31PM (5 children)
It's an op ed by the author, Eric Berger. Maybe it's not spun as such, but well, opinion pieces say that sort of thing all the time.
Or perhaps only when they make exaggerated claims like this one? I'm willing to grant that maybe TASS always lies in that situation.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday August 14 2021, @03:52PM (1 child)
Mr Putin is a very nice man. There is absolutely no way he'd let one of his news agencies tell lies, none at all.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 15 2021, @07:26PM
He said he didn't interfere in the election - good enough for me. And President Trump.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Sunday August 15 2021, @09:48AM (2 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 15 2021, @04:54PM (1 child)
It is a common idiom in English when stating the obvious and your objection is at best disingenuous. Also, name three adverbs that you wouldn't have objected to.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday August 17 2021, @11:38AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @05:06PM
TASS is slinging politically charged mud at a foreigner at a time when Russia is receiving bad international press. That they have in the past printed true statements about politically neutral subjects has no bearing on the 'of course' part being written in mile high letters of fire.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Saturday August 14 2021, @05:51PM
I interpreted the "of course" as an acknowledgement that the claim was thoroughly hashed over back in 2018 when they first claimed that an American sabotaged the Soyuz. Review of station logs and video said no then and the evidence hasn't changed since.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 16 2021, @03:42PM
"Bob told me that the Queen of England is a space lizard. Of course, this is a complete fabrication."
The line "of course" is meant to tell the audience that the claim is obviously wrong. It could be because the source is a guaranteed liar, but that is pretty rare, as you note. It's more likely because there is obvious evidence that the claim itself is false.
I do wonder why the focus on trying to straw-man claim that this is casting aspersions on TASS.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Saturday August 14 2021, @10:39AM (8 children)
Yes, feel free to let me know how this qualifies as "Flamebait".
Flamebait/Troll != "I don't like this comment". Have an actual excuse for your mods.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @12:16PM
Since they don't have a "-1 Whining" moderation, I guess I'll have to post this comment.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @04:07PM
Don't get worked up over it.
I, like all non-idiots on this site, browse at -1 and ignore mods completely.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @05:44PM (2 children)
You'll have to ignore the leftists with their mod points. Anything that doesn't toe the party line of "Russia is the ultimate evil" will be immediately downvoted.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @09:02PM (1 child)
But China, the other communist dictatorship, is a great model to follow! (snort!)
And Cuba.
Yeah, I know Russia isn't communist anymore. That's why the Left no longer loves them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 15 2021, @10:27PM
Gotta love the russia shills, so cute. Can SoylentNews collect em all?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 15 2021, @05:08PM (2 children)
You made the claim that NASA has the same level of credibility as Roscosmos. While NASA has had problems with upper management screwing up and blaming underlings, like pretty much every large organization, they are nowhere near the systemic incompetence and corruption that Roscosmos is widely known for. To claim equivalence is defamatory, inflammatory, and indistinguishable from trolling, thus 'Flamebait'.
To put it bluntly, had Serena done what the Russians are claiming then NASA would have fired her three years ago and probably filed criminal charges against her, and Roscosmos wouldn't have fired a factory worker for it.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Sunday August 15 2021, @10:48PM (1 child)
I mean...about this one specific thing? I don't recall saying that they're both completely untrustworthy.
LOL tell me how you really feel
If it's trolling, why wouldn't you mod it Troll? Troll and Flamebait aren't exactly synonyms...
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 16 2021, @12:00AM
I don't have mod points so I can't.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @06:44AM (6 children)
Does the US Astronaut program screen for psychopaths? I mean, in terms of selecting them to be astronauts?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @08:58AM (5 children)
It actually very strenuously weeds psychopaths out. A close friend was in the process. The pipeline for each cohort of astronauts at NASA is to go from millions of applicants to a 1m-ish list that aren't outlandish, then to pursue 100,000 through some testing and vetting and interviewing (lots of scantron, I'm told, and discipline-specific stuff as well as general), then to 10,000 contenders who are considered candidates at last who do more testing including physical and maybe some training, to 1,000 who do more testing and a fair bit of training (evaluated on progress and attainment), to 100. I never asked what happens next - he was one of the 900 cut from the 1,000. But at each stage there are direct and indirect assessments of mental wellbeing and psychological traits which are very thorough. Non-abusive alcohol use was allowed, but other drugs were a zero tolerance policy, and they definitely did do serum, hair, and urine tests for the 1,000, at entry and again before the cut to 100. And sociopathy, psychopathy, domineering, volability, and a great many other traits are considered hard vetos in any candidate.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @09:37AM (3 children)
Private enterprise will allow psychopaths to spread throughout the cosmos, and it will be glorious.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday August 14 2021, @09:54AM
Or not [wikipedia.org]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Saturday August 14 2021, @10:48AM
Well, of course. How do you expect to manage interplanetary corporations if you don't let CEOs get on board?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @02:02PM
I thought Branson and Bezos came back?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @01:19PM
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 14 2021, @06:07PM
US-ian females are intended for display purposes only.
(Score: 1) by engblom on Saturday August 14 2021, @09:57PM
Thank you Russia for reminding me about your drilled hole mistake. If it was not for this ridiculous claim of you I would have forgotten how you messed up with this in the past.