Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub were assigned on the Expedition 70 spacewalk to check up on an external radiator on the Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.
Upon inspection, Kononenko spotted a number of small holes on the radiator’s surface, all randomly distributed.
“The holes have very even edges, like they’ve been drilled through,” the flight engineer said.
“There are lots of them. They are spread in a chaotic manner.”
But as the pair worked to isolate the issue, they discovered a droplet of coolant which started to form between the radiator panels.
They soon realised it wasn’t just the holes he had to worry about.
It seems Kononenko had a much bigger problem on his hands, the fact that he had encountered a growing ‘blob’, or ‘droplet’, while trying to soak up any escaping liquid from the generator.
Russian astronaut Oleg Kononenko was told to flee the International Space Station as soon as possible (Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty Images)
He had intended to mop up the leak with a cloth towel, but it was a lot more liquid than he had first expected.
It turns out that this ‘blob’ was residual coolant, which had been disturbed while Kononenko and Chub were carrying out their work close to the valves – and it attached itself to Kononenko’s safety tether, which keeps him connected to the ISS.
His superiors instructed him to leave the area immediately and return to the ISS after the breach, although the Russian insisted none of the liquid had reached his suit.
Thankfully, the astronauts were well prepared for this kind of incident and had taken tissues and cloths to wipe down their gear and tools so that they wouldn’t bring any contaminated kit back inside of the ISS.
The pair discovered a droplet of coolant which started to form between the radiator panels (MAXIM SHIPENKOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Kononenko instead had to ‘bag’ his tether which had touched the bizarre blob and then left it outside after the spacewalk – which lasted seven hours and 41 minutes – came to an end.
Roscosmos later announced in a Telegram post that the lab’s primary coolant loop was not affected and ‘the crew and the station are not in any danger,’ according to CBS News.
The Expedition 70 crew then safely returned to Earth on 5 April, 2024, after the 191 day mission was complete.
Personally, Kononenko has spent 1,111 days in space, which makes him the astronaut who has spent the most time in orbit.
