MOSCOW: Russia’s Progress MS-21 space cargo ship that was undocked from the International Space Station and sank in the Pacific was likely damaged by an external impact, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency said on Tuesday, citing preliminary data.
“Such conclusions are made on the basis of images that show changes on the outer surface of the ship,” Roscosmos said on the Telegram messaging platform.
Roscosmos published a photograph that it said showed a hole of around 12 mm in a thermal control system’s radiator. It said solar panels were also damaged.
Roscosmos reported loss of pressure in the ship on Feb 11. Investigations into the incident have delayed the launch of craft to take two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut back from the space station.
The launch of the relief ship, Soyuz MS-23, will take place on Feb 24, with docking with the ISS planned for Feb 26, Roscosmos said on Tuesday.