The spacewalk of two Russian cosmonauts was canceled at the last minute on Wednesday night. A major flaw had developed in the Russian spacecraft docked with the International Space Station.
Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin were already donning their spacesuits and about to begin their spacewalk when the flaw was discovered. They were not allowed to leave the Soyuz spacecraft while the leak was investigated. The walk was finally stopped at around 4:00am.
The leak appears to have originated in the spacecraft’s cooling system. NASA spokesman Rob Navias, who reportedly commented on the spacewalk for NASA Television, said it was a “reasonably large leak”.
NASA’s television broadcast showed something leaking from the Soyuz spacecraft. It was probably ammonia. It is used as a spacecraft coolant.
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