Russia claims an “external impact” damaged its Progress spacecraft
Enlarge / The European robotic arm is seen investigating Soyuz MS-22 after a leak occurred in mid-December. (credit: NASA TV)
Russia's main space corporation, Roscosmos, provided updates on Tuesday about its two spacecraft that recently suffered failures to their cooling systems while attached to the International Space Station.
Although there were several items of note in these updates—which are not readily available to Western audiences due to Russian Internet restrictions—perhaps the most surprising claim is that both the Soyuz MS-22 and Progress MS-21 spacecraft were damaged near their heat radiators by "external impacts." This seems highly improbable, to say the least.
For those who haven't been paying attention to the Russian roulette in space in recent months, here's a summary of what has happened since mid-December: