THE crew of the International Space Station have had time to relax, reflect — and inspect — now that a hole that was venting air into the void has been plugged. What they’ve found is the puncture was a drill hole in a Russian-made spacecraft docked to a station module. And it had been plugged with just glue and tape.

How did the hole get there?

How did it go unnoticed?

“What is this?” Director General of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin asked. “A production defect or some premeditated actions?”

He has his own opinion.

“There were several attempts at drilling,” he said, by a “wavering hand.”

Finding the culprit was now a “matter of honour” for Russia, he added.

UNDER PRESSURE
The six ISS crew were alerted last week to a small but consistent drop in cabin pressure.

It was not a critical situation. At the rate air was being lost, the ISS still had several weeks of air supply available.

Ground control waited until the crew woke from their designated sleep period before alerting them to the problem. They were all ordered to put aside what they were doing and isolate the cause of the leak.

Eventually, a 2mm hole was found in Soyuz MS-09, a spacecraft capsule docked to the space station’s Rassvet module. Specifically, it was close to the vehicle’s toilet. And it was concealed by a flap of fabric.

Initially, it was assumed the hole was caused by a micrometeorite, or a high-velocity fleck of man-made debris produced by destructive weapons tests against satellites, space accidents, or just plain bad luck.

But issues soon arose.

The hole itself is the opposite to what one would expect from a micrometeor. It is a neat, round hole. And the splay of metal from the exit of the penetrating object is on the outside of the craft — not the interior, as one would expect from an inbound projectile.

“We are considering all the theories,” Rogozin said. “The one about a meteorite impact has been rejected because the spaceship’s hull was evidently impacted from inside.”

Photos of the hole clearly shows several drill-track marks in the paint, made as the inexpertly handled bit scraped across the surface without making purchase.

“It was done by a human hand — there are traces of a drill sliding along the surface,” Rogozin said. “We don’t reject any theories.”

ORBITAL FALLOUT
What is obvious is that whomever drilled the hole successfully hid the damage during the pre-flight inspection of the Soyuz capsule. This included pressurisation and depressurisation of the craft, to ensure the flexing it experienced in the transition to orbit did not open up any cracks or holes.

Only after the Soyuz was launched on June 6 had the vacuum of space begun to dry out the glue, causing it to shrink and pop out.

What is not known is intent. Was it a clumsy attempt at cover-up by an embarrassed contractor? Or a clever act of deliberate sabotage?

The hole was plugged by using a more specialist form of epoxy resin that will not dry up and shrink. After being allowed to set, another layer was added as a precaution.

Air pressure within the ISS is once again holding stable.

The Soyuz module itself is scheduled to remain docked with the ISS until December.

Astronauts Prokopyev, Gerst and Aunon-Chancellor are expected to return to Earth at that time. Their journey will be unimpeded as the hole is in a section of the Soyuz that does not make the re-entry process.

Roscosmos has since ordered an inspection of all other Soyuz capsules in operation and construction. These are the rocket-mounted spacecraft currently the only means of carrying crew members to-and-from the orbiting research outpost.

Another option could be the hole was drilled by a homesick member of the station’s crew. A carefully staged emergency could cause those aboard the ISS to evacuate, and return to Earth.

“We are checking the Earth version But there is another version that we do not rule out: deliberate interference in space,” Rogozin said.

It’s a suspicion echoed on the ground.

“We’re all human, and anyone might want to go home, but this method is really low,” Russian MP and former astronaut Maxim Surayev said. “If a cosmonaut pulled this strange stunt — and that can’t ruled out — it’s really bad.”

The head of Roscosmos agrees: “It is essential to see the reason, to learn the name of the one responsible for that,” Rogozin said. “And we will find out, without fail.”