Roscosmos Russia, the Russian space agency has threatened to file charges against a NASA astronaut it says drilled a hole of two millimeters in a Soyuz MS-09 rocket that docked with 2018’s International Space Station (ISS).
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.
Roscosmos has announced the possibility of criminal prosecutions after Russian law enforcement received the allegations.
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.
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Roscosmos Russia, the Russian space agency has threatened to file charges against a NASA astronaut it says drilled a hole of two millimeters in a Soyuz MS-09 rocket that docked with International Space Station (ISS).
DailyMail.com reached out to NASA to obtain more information, but has not received a reply.
Roscosmos insiders claimed that multiple holes were drilled in the low gravity by someone who was not familiar with the design of the module.
After an air leak caused a drop in pressure, the hole was discovered on August 30, 2018.
Russian astronauts quickly filled the gap and restored pressure by using epoxy resin, a glue-like substance.
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
Roscosmos announced that criminal charges could be brought against Roscosmos. After a leaky air pipe caused by a pressure drop, the hole was discovered on August 30, 2018.
The hole had been sealed, and cosmonauts used an endoscope to take photos and videos of it.
According to a Russian official, the hole could have been created deliberately by someone below.
Russia opened an investigation into what caused the hole in 2019 and shared allegations in Augusts that Auñón-Chancellor made the hole.
NASA replied by saying that it doesn’t comment on medical issues but denied the claim. They described the astronaut as highly respected and valued, as well as describing his many valuable contributions.
Bill Nelson, NASA’s head posted in August on Twitter: “I completely support Serena.”
However, the latest development now opens the door for Russia’s Roscosmos to press charges against Auñón-Chancellor.
NASA stated that astronauts aboard the space station were not in danger due to the “lifeboat” spacecraft, which was attached to it to allow for a return trip to Earth.
Russian astronauts quickly filled the gap and restored pressure by using epoxy resin, a glue-like substance.
Further investigation and images later confirmed that the hole had been created from the inside. This ruled out the possibility of any space debris.
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.
According to them, it was impossible for any damage to occur on Earth because the ship wouldn’t have passed the necessary vacuum chamber tests.
“If it had any cracks in it, the pressure inside it would instantly drop and it wouldn’t pass the necessary tests.” Roscosmos therefore immediately ruled out any damage to Soyuz-MS-09, as reported by TASS.
It then goes on to discuss the mental health of Auñón-Chancellor, suggesting she took drastic action to ‘speed up her return to Earth’.
This list explains the reason for the claim of defamation. The video camera that was at the intersection of American and Russian segments “mysteriously” stopped working, and it also suggests that US astronauts declined to undergo a polygraph.
Roscosmos employees told TASS they had performed a polygraph on Russian astronauts. However, the agency was not permitted to look at the instruments and drills aboard the ISS looking for metal shavings.
He continued to say that out of eight holes, only one made it through. The rest seemed to merely scratch the walls.