International Space Station Air Leak: Russia Says It Could Be A Deliberate Effort

Russia has reportedly launched an investigation into the International Space Station air leak that took place last week after the chief of its space agency questioned the presence of the hole.

According to Dmitry Rogozin, the chief executive officer of Russia’s Roscosmos space corporation, the hole in the Russian Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft docked at the ISS could likely be made by human hands, perhaps deliberately. He completely ruled out the possibility of the hole being created by a meteorite or space debris.

“We are considering all theories,” Rogozin said. “The one about a meteorite impact has been rejected because the spaceship’s hull was evidently impacted from inside. But it seems to have been done by a faltering hand. It was done by a human hand – there are traces of a drill sliding along the surface.”

He said that looking at the hole it seems someone made several drilling attempts to create it. He noted that the drill appeared to have been held by a wavering hand.

“What is this: a production defect or some premeditated actions?” Rogozin asked. “We are checking the Earth version. But there is another version that we do not rule out: deliberate interference in space.”

Rogozin said the Russian space agency will investigate into the matter and find out whether the hole was the result of an accident or if it was deliberately created and where it was done on Earth or in space. He added that the investigation will seek to identify the culprit by name.

Astronauts had initially put tape over the hole and then cosmonauts eventually plugged it using epoxy and gauze to stabilize the air pressure inside the station. The hole was in a section of the Soyuz ship that which won’t return to Earth.

Currently, the ISS is home to two cosmonauts from Russia and three NASA astronauts and one German astronaut from the European Space Agency.