More Drill Hole ????? From Roscosmos
Russia threatens criminal charges against a NASA astronaut, Ars Technica
“The Russian state news service, TASS, escalated the issue in April when it published accusations that Auñón-Chancellor had “an acute psychological crisis” after suffering an instance of deep vein thrombosis in space and drilled the hole in an attempt to expedite her return to Earth. NASA pushed back against those claims at the time. Now, with the announcement that its investigation is complete, Russian officials have floated another conspiracy theory. In the RIA Novosti article, translated for Ars by Rob Mitchell, the publication cites reports that Auñón-Chancellor may have drilled the hole “due to stress after an unsuccessful romantic relationship with another crew member.”
Keith’s note: If he was a remotely credible leader Dmitry Rogozin would simply issue a statement saying that none of this nonsense is true. But he doesn’t. фигня Dmitry.
Saga of Tiny Drill Hole in the ISS Continues as Russia Sends Investigation to Police, Gizmodo
“The notion that any astronaut – or cosmonaut – would deliberately drill holes in their spacecraft – especially one designed to take them back to Earth – for any reason – is ludicrous,” Keith Cowing, a former NASA employee and editor of the site NASA Watch, explained in an email. “The only plausible explanation is that the damage happened on Earth before [the Soyuz MS-09] was even launched.” To which he added: “Russia is clearly sensitive about the way its chronically underfunded space efforts are portrayed.” Cowing described Nelson’s denunciation of the Russian claims as “flat,” and he criticized Rogozin for allowing “these conspiracy stories to fester in the Russian media” instead of putting them to a stop.”
Wow! I have tremendous respect for Russia’s initial space efforts, but I wish they would show some dignity and pride now.
Expecting dignity from a kleptocracy may be an exercise in futility.
expecting dignity from any politician these days is an exercise in hopeless optimism.
The Russian claims are garbage; however the fact that the story has even reached this point, is a sad commentary on their level of “professionalism”.
Um, if it wasn’t A-C, who bumped CIA alum Epps on Expedition 57 after a year training as her backup, who flew unexpectedly on 120 days notice, and who reported on a neck blood clot among her crew (see: https://www.nejm.org/doi/fu… ) apparently two months into Expedition 57 and just before the Soyuz started leaking air, um, just what IS the official NASA narrative again on how that pesky hole got there? I’ve forgotten….
Are you actually alleging that Auñón-Chancellor drilled that hole?
The picture of the hole (see https://cdn.arstechnica.net… ) shows zero residue from any unauthorized ground repair patch that prevented air leakage for two months after the Soyuz got to orbit. A debris puncture on orbit would not have left the skipping drill marks. Ergo, I personally have concluded it was drilled on orbit. By somebody.
Astronauts are under enormous mental pressure both on the ground and in space. They are only human, with all that entails. They can and do make mistakes. This is not something to deny OR stigmatize OR whitewash. Success in spaceflight depends on unflinching dedication to identify root causes of failure.
Or drilled on Earth. In Russia.
The patch that was applied on-orbit to the hole to stop it from leaking looked like this (start at 1:00):
https://twitter.com/roscosm…
The original evidentiary photograph taken upon the discovery of the hole shows no indication of a similar patch having been previously applied on the ground in Russia:
https://cdn.arstechnica.net…
Something held pressure in that Soyuz from June 6 to August 29 : either a patch or an intact bulkhead. I see no sign of a previous patch.
Do you have all – ALL – of the photos taken inside the ISS at that time? Get back to me when you do. This is the last post you will be making on this.
“This is not something to deny OR stigmatize OR whitewash. Success in spaceflight depends on unflinching dedication to identify root causes of failure.”
Uh-huh. It sure seems like you want to blame one astronaut with zero evidence in hand to support that claim, all while not even acknowledging the possibility that the hole was made on Earth as suggested shortly after the discovery and as Keith suggests below.
Who claimed those holes are debris puncture?
There’s nothing in that photo to suggest it wasn’t drilled on the ground.
The crew, especially on the International side, is closely scheduled and monitored. The chance that they could get “away” for long enough to get a drill and drill a hole is infinitesimal. They are also not nutty enough to drill a hole in their own capsule. So the non-Russian crew did NOT drill that hole.
Also, the Russian crew members are NOT crazy enough to drill a hole in their own capsule!
The hole was drilled on the ground by a technician – why exactly and what they hoped to prove is yet to be determined.
The ground support people are bombarded with internal Russian stories about how the international astronauts who were flying on Soyuz were trying to embarrass or hurt Russia. The ground support people read in the news every day how other nations, and the astronauts flying on Soyuz, were enemies. Some ground technician tried to prevent the Soyuz from flying to ISS, for some unknown reason.
NASA doesn’t need to develop any “narrative” on how the Soyuz capsule showed up with a hole in it. The Russians do; it’s their capsule. Maybe they will install a Ring doorbell on the next one.
In any case, a credible narrative would be a big improvement.
A woman scorned leads to a space station drilled? That is the Russia party line for the problem? Wow just wow. Why do they keep trying to lay blame elsewhere instead of letting the story die (pretty much everyone knows the issue really came from ground processing)