Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has threatened to press charges against a NASA astronaut who it claims drilled a two millimeter hole in a Soyuz MS-09 vehicle that was docked with the International Space Station (ISS) in 2018.
The agency recently completed its investigation into what it deems was a sabotage, citing Serena Auñón-Chancellor, a crew member of the ISS at the time of the incident, as the culprit.
The allegations have been handed over to Russian law enforcement, allowing Roscosmos to announce the possibility of criminal charges.
The Izvestia newspaper reported on Friday, citing sources, that Auñón-Chancellor made the hole with the hopes of return home early, TASS reports.
Sources told the Russian news outlet that Auñón-Chancellor wanted to leave the orbiting laboratory due to a blood clot or fight wither her boyfriend onboard the ISS.
Scroll down for videoÂ
Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has threatened to press charges against a NASA astronaut who it claims drilled a two millimeter hole in a Soyuz MS-09 vehicle that was docked with the International Space Station (ISS) in 2018
DailyMail.com has reached out to NASA for more information and has yet to receive a response.
According to a report in TASS, Roscosmos insiders claim there were multiple holes drilled by someone unfamiliar with the module design and without proper support to ensure accurate drilling in low gravity.
The hole was spotted on August 30, 2018, after a pressure drop was identified due to an air leak.
Russian cosmonauts quickly plugged the hole and restored pressure, patching it up with several layers of epoxy resin – a glue-like substance.Â
The agency recently completed its investigation into what it deems was a sabotage, citing Serena Auñón-Chancellor, a crew member of the ISS at the time of the incident, as the culprit
The allegations have been handed over to Russian law enforcement, allowing Roscosmos to announce the possibility of criminal charges. The hole was spotted on August 30, 2018, after a pressure drop was identified due to an air leak
After the hole was sealed cosmonauts carried out photo- and video surveillance of the hole using an endoscope.
A Russian official said in September 2018 that the hole appeared to have been punctured using a drill, and could have been caused deliberately by someone on the ground.
Russia opened an investigation into what caused the hole in 2019 and shared allegations in Augusts that Auñón-Chancellor made the hole.
NASA responded by saying it does not comment on medical matters but disputed the claim, describing the astronaut as extremely well respected and as making many invaluable contributions.
Bill Nelson, head of NASA posted on Twitter in August: ‘I fully support Serena.’
However, the latest development now opens the door for Russia’s Roscosmos to press charges against Auñón-Chancellor.
NASA claimed the astronauts on board were never in danger of suffocation due to the ‘lifeboat’ spacecraft attached to the station to provide a return to Earth.
Russian cosmonauts quickly plugged the hole and restored pressure, patching it up with several layers of epoxy resin – a glue-like substance
Later, images and further investigation revealed the hole had been made from the inside, ruling out space debris as the cause.
Sergey Prokopyev and two other astronauts, Auñón-Chancellor of NASA and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, were on board when it as detected.
The allegation against Auñón-Chancellor was made in an article published by TASS claiming to ‘debunk’ 12 things America claims about the Russian space agency.
They report it would not have been possible for the damage to happen on Earth as the ship would never pass vacuum chamber tests, essential to be flight ready.
Related Post
‘If there were any holes in it, then the pressure in this ship would immediately drop and it would not pass the appropriate tests. Thus, Roscosmos immediately ruled out the version of damage to Soyuz-MS-09 on Earth,’ TASS reported.
It then goes on to discuss the mental health of Auñón-Chancellor, suggesting she took drastic action to ‘speed up her return to Earth’.
It lists the reasons behind the defamatory claim, suggesting the video camera at the junction of the Russian and American segments ‘mysteriously’ stopped working at the time and that the US astronauts refused to pass a polygraph.
Roscosmos insiders told TASS that the Russian astronauts took a polygraph and added the agency wasn’t allowed to examine the tools and drills on the ISS for presence of the remains of metal shavings.
It went on to add that of the eight holes only one went all the way through, the rest appeared to just scuff the walls.
