Damage detected on shell of Russian spacecraft docked to ISS

Astronauts found damage on Thursday to the outer skin of the instrument-assembly compartment of the Russian spacecraft Soyuz MS-22 that is docked to the International Space Station (ISS).

The crew reported that the warning device of the spaceship's diagnostic system went off, indicating a pressure drop in the cooling system, Russia's state space corporation Roscosmos said in a statement.

After a visual inspection confirmed the leak, the planned extravehicular activities by crew members of the Russian segment of the ISS, Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, were canceled, it said.

Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, using a camera on a manipulator mounted on the Nauka multifunctional laboratory module, photographed and filmed the outer surface of the Soyuz MS-22 and transmitted the data back to Earth for study.

Currently, all systems of the ISS and the spaceship are operating normally and the crew is safe, Roscosmos said, adding that a decision will be made on further actions after specialists analyze the situation.

The Soyuz MS-22 manned spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 21, taking Prokopyev, Petelin and a NASA astronaut to the ISS for a six-month stay in orbit.