Daily Mail 12/28/2018
Russian cosmonaut confirms mysterious hole in the International Space Station was drilled from INSIDE - but investigators still don't know how it got there
Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev spoke about the hole in Soyuz capsule this week
Prokopyev and crewmember investigated it during spacewalk on Dec. 12
The cosmonaut says it was drilled from inside capsule, but wasn't made by crew
Russian law enforcement is now investigating samples brought back from ISS
A Russian cosmonaut who explored a mysterious hole in a capsule docked to the International Space Station has revealed that the opening was drilled from inside the spacecraft.
It's been four months since crew first discovered the hole in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft attached to the orbiting lab, but just how it got there remains a mystery.
On Monday, Sergey Prokopyev said Russian law enforcement agencies are now examining samples he and crewmate Oleg Kononenko collected during a Dec. 12 spacewalk in effort to find out what caused it.
Prokopyev and two other astronauts returned to Earth last week from a 197-day space station mission.
The hole in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft attached to the station was spotted on Aug. 30.
Just days prior to their return to Earth, the cosmonauts endured a grueling spacewalk that lasted almost eight hours to investigate the hole, using knives and shears to carve into the side of the ISS.
The crew discovered a leak that was creating a slight loss of pressure and plugged the hole with epoxy and gauze.
Prokopyev said at a news conference the cavity started from the capsule's interior and 'it's up to the investigative organs to judge when that hole was made.'
The astronauts' quick identification and repair of the hole demonstrated 'the crew was ready for any developments,' he said.
The hole didn't pose a danger to Prokopyev and crewmates Serena Aunon-Chancellor of NASA and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency during their return because the section of the capsule it appeared on was jettisoned before the fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.
More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6530471/Russia-says-mysterious-hole-International-Space-Station-drilled-INSIDE.html
