Russia's Space Program Just Threw a NASA Astronaut Under the Bus
Freeman writes:
Russia's space program just threw a NASA astronaut under the bus:
Russia's state-owned news service, TASS, has published an extraordinarily defamatory article about NASA astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor. The publication claims that Aunon-Chancellor had an emotional breakdown in space, then damaged a Russian spacecraft in order to return early. This, of course, is a complete fabrication.
The context for the article is the recent, near-disastrous docking of the Russian Nauka science module with the International Space Station. The TASS article attempts to rebut criticism in US publications (including Ars Technica) that covered the incident and raised questions about the future of the Roscosmos-NASA partnership in space.
One of a dozen rebuttals in the TASS article concerns a 2018 incident-a 2 mm breach in the orbital module of the Soyuz MS-09 vehicle docked with the International Space Station. Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, and NASA's Aunon-Chancellor had flown to the station inside this Soyuz in June. The leak was discovered in late August.
Previously:
(2020-09-05) Source of International Space Station Leak Still Not Found, NASA Says
(2018-12-13) Cosmonauts Cut Into Soyuz Docked at the ISS During Nearly 8-Hour Spacewalk
(2018-11-03) Roscosmos Completes Investigation into October Soyuz Failure, Finds Assembly Issue
(2018-10-03) Controversy Over ISS Leak Continues, Spacewalk Planned for November
(2018-09-14) NASA and Roscosmos Release Joint Statement on ISS Leak Amid Rumors
(2018-09-06) Russian Space Chief Vows to Find "Full Name" of Technician Who Caused ISS Leak
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