It Is Time to Grow Up, Roscosmos (Updated)
Kathy Lueders finally got around to tweeting “NASA astronauts, including Serena Aunon-Chancellor, are extremely well-respected, serve their country and make invaluable contributions to the agency. We stand behind Serena and her professional conduct. We do not believe there is any credibility to these accusations.” and Bill Nelson retweeted this tweet and added “I whole heartedly agree with Kathy’s statement. I fully support Serena and I will always stand behind our astronauts.”. Why does it always seem to take 24 hours for NASA to state the obvious – after everyone else already has?
Twelve theses of American claims against Roscosmos and answers to them, TASS (auto translated)
“As for getting it a hole in orbit, some circumstances should be taken into account, my anonymous interlocutor believes. First, the illness of one of the astronauts – as it became known from scientific workabout the first case of thrombus formation in orbit, when Serina Maria Auñon-Chancellor was already on Earth, she was subjected to this misfortune. “And this could provoke an acute psychological crisis,” which could lead to attempts in various ways to speed up her return to the planet, my anonymous interlocutor believes.”
Keith’s note: This article appears on TASS, a mouthpiece which is owned by the Government of Russia. Clearly Roscosmos PAO was busy refuting various news reports about ongoing problems within Russia’s space efforts so they could pump it out as “news” on Tass. This is a typical article you see from time to time – one that is made even more disjointed by automatic web translation. But one part of this article shines through the bad translation: a cheap shot against an American astronaut accusing her of an emotional break down and sabotaging a Soyuz so that she could get home earlier. Truth be known this sounds more like one of those goofy movie plots that Russia always seems to want to film on the ISS.
It is unlikely that the crude depiction of this American astronaut’s health is remotely accurate. But if there was even the slightest issue of a medical concern the last thing Roscosmos – directly or by proxy – should be doing is talking about it in public – for any reason. To do so is a gross violation of “Code of Conduct for the International Space Station Crew” signed by Russia and all ISS partners and codified as law in the U.S. as 14 CFR § 1214.403. Specifically:
“In particular, all personal medical information, whether derived from medical monitoring, investigations, or medical contingency events, shall be treated as private medical information and shall be transmitted in a private and secure fashion in accordance with procedures to be set forth by the MMOP.”
Meanwhile, one would hope that NASA makes a public stance on this nonsense in support of their employee. Something tells me that NASA PAO is not up to that task. This entire TASS article, bad translation not withstanding, is childish, defensive, and not the sort of thing that a great spacefaring nation should be putting out to explain its problems. It is time to grow up Roscosmos.
Keith’s note: Looks like NASA PAO quietly sent this out to a few people last night. But you had to be psychic to know to ask for it in the first place. You gotta wonder why they do not just post it on their website so as to send a clear message to Roscosmos i.e. “This ain’t cool. Knock it off”.
“All the International Space Station partners are dedicated to mission safety and the welfare of the crew. The International Space Station partners all participate in multiple reviews prior to every major station activity to assess and ensure the safety of all crew members. The hole that was detected in late August 2018 by the space station crew was quickly sealed, restoring air-tight pressure to the station. Russian cosmonauts conducted a spacewalk that December to gather additional engineering data for Russian specialists on Earth and to look externally at the effectiveness of the internal repair. The Soyuz spacecraft was thoroughly checked and deemed safe for the crew to return to Earth, which it did, on Dec. 20, 2018. To protect their privacy, the agency will not discuss medical information regarding crew members.”
“But one part of this article shines through the bad translation: a cheap shot against an American astronaut accusing her of an emotional break down and sabotaging a Soyuz so that she could get home earlier.”
Just when you think you’ve seen and heard it all from the Russians!
“Meanwhile, one would hope that NASA makes a public stance on this nonsense in support of their employee. Something tells me that NASA PAO is not up to that task.”
Unfortunately, history is on your side Keith, when it comes to this NASA office.
Hopefully someone will come forward and have her back. This is a case where “silence is not golden”.
“Update: We stand behind Serena and her professional conduct. We do not believe there is any credibility to these accusations.” and Bill Nelson retweeted this tweet and added “I whole heartedly agree with Kathy’s statement. I fully support Serena and I will always stand behind our astronauts.”.
“Keith: Why does it always seem to take 24 hours for NASA to state the obvious – after everyone else already has?”
I will go a step further and define the responses’ content as weak; insofar as what the statements do NOT include….
…Where is the condemnation for not only naming an astronaut and releasing her medical history; but for the insidious insinuation that she was responsible for the drilled holes?
Nelson’s reply was way too little and way too late! There should have been an immediate hard reply rather than a “Let’s wait to see which way the wind is blowing so we don’t offend the Russians.”
Paul Gillett wisely asks, “Why does it always seem to take 24 hours for NASA to state the obvious – after everyone else already has?”
The wise question was Keith’s. My apologies for a poorly worded entry and the misunderstanding it led to, (especially to Mr. Cowing) and my post has been edited to properly reflect this.
This story the Russians released is the same rumor I heard around JSC when the hole was first discovered, with a significant difference. The Soyuz in question was docked for almost 80days when the leak occurred and was unlikely done on the ground, so someone on board drilled the hole after it docked. The US Makita drill bit on the ISS had markings that indicated it had been used against a metal surface recently. The drill bit has since been returned.
The main difference between the story the Russians released and what I heard in the halls of buildings 4S & 1 was that one of the Russian Cosmonauts drilled the hole to expedite her return. It speculation as the why he did it. It’s also not clear if she knew he did it. Shortly after it was discovered what happened a fight erupted on-board the ISS.
Astronauts are human in a stressful situation. While we like to think they all have the “Right Stuff” these things will happen as more and more people fly on space, just like they happen on the ocean, under the ocean or in the air.