---
title: "Russian Module on International Space Station Leaks Coolant"
description: "(Bloomberg) -- A Russian module attached to the International Space Station sprung a leak on Monday, causing liquid coolant to spew into space, state space corporation Roscosmos said on Telegram on Monday."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Bloomberg"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bloomberg/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-10-10-russian-module-on-international-space-station-leaks-coolant/"
published: "2023-10-10T02:08:54"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 269
---

# Russian Module on International Space Station Leaks Coolant

> (Bloomberg) -- A Russian module attached to the International Space Station sprung a leak on Monday, causing liquid coolant to spew into space, state space corporation Roscosmos said on Telegram on Monday.

By Bloomberg · Published 10 October 2023, 04:08 SAST

## Key points
- Despite the leak, the seven crew members aboard the ISS remain safe and sound as Roscosmos and NASA investigate the cause of this latest coolant leak.
- Seven crew members on board the ISS are safe following a coolant leak from a Russian-made vehicle.
- This is the third major leak of a Russian-made vehicle to occur at the ISS in 12 months.
- Roscosmos said the leak stems from an external backup radiator circuit and that the main thermal circuit is operating normally.
- The previous two leaks were likely caused by impacts from micrometeoroids, according to NASA.

## Content

The seven crew members on board the ISS aren’t in any danger, Roscosmos and NASA said.

“Teams on the ground will continue to investigate the cause of the leak, and additional updates will be made as available,” a statement from NASA said.

This most recent coolant leak is the third major leak of a Russian-made vehicle to occur at the ISS within the last 12 months. In December, NASA had to postpone a spacewalk after a Russian Soyuz capsule then-docked with the space station started leaking coolant into space. In February, a Russian Progress cargo capsule also docked with the ISS sprung a similar leak.

On Monday, NASA mission controllers in Houston radioed the astronauts on board the space station, asking them if they could look out the window to see if there were any flakes floating outside of the vehicle, according to conversations monitored on NASA’s live audio feed to the space station.

One of the astronauts then confirmed, “Yeah, there’s a leak coming from the radiator of” Russia’s Nauka laboratory module, which was launched to the station in 2021.

NASA mission controllers asked the crew to close the shutters on some of the windows on the station’s domed cupola “as a precaution against contamination.”

Roscosmos said the leak stems from the external backup radiator circuit in the Nauka module and that the main thermal circuit is operating normally. That means the module can be cooled normally without any impacts to the crew or space station operations, NASA said in a statement.

Roscosmos blamed the previous two leaks on external factors, possibly impacts from micrometeoroids, and NASA agreed.