Astronaut was told to flee ISS immediately after finding blob growing outside it
- A Russian astronaut had to make a quick exit from a space mission
- The pair were working outside ISS on a spacewalk
- That was when they saw a mysterious and seemingly dangerous blob
Published on Aug 21, 2024 at 7:28 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Aug 22, 2024 at 7:04 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
A Russian astronaut and his colleague venturing outside the International Space Station (ISS) on a spacewalk had a seemingly narrow escape being told to flee after finding a ‘blob’ in space.
No, it wasn’t extraterrestrial ectoplasm, but coolant leaking from a radiator.
However, that apparent normalcy didn’t render the out-of-this-world experience any less perilous for the cosmonauts.
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The ISS blob
Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub were ordered to leave the area immediately when the incident occurred on October 25, 2023.
Kononenko’s tether became contaminated after the astronaut duo got close to a coolant leak.
As a result, the tether was bagged and left outside ISS when the spacewalk ended.
The leak had first been observed emanating from an external radiator earlier that month.
The plan had been to isolate and photograph the radiator, which serves as a backup to a main body radiator that regulates the temperature inside Russia’s Nauka multipurpose laboratory module.
Kononenko and Chub configured several valves, isolating the external radiator from its ammonia supply.
Kononenko said he had seen small holes on the surface of the radiator before noticing the blob.
“The holes have very even edges, like they’ve been drilled through,” Kononenko radioed to the flight controllers working in Moscow Mission Control.
“There are lots of them. They are spread in a chaotic manner.”
The blob was said to have been formed by pooling residual coolant that the astronaut disturbed as he closed the valves.
The cosmonauts had brought tissues and cloths to wipe down their spacesuits and tools in an attempt not to bring the substance back aboard ISS.
Russian engineers will use the data collected to further the cause of the leak and hopefully return the radiator to working order.
Other astronaut news
In other news from the Great Beyond, an astronaut aiming to walk on Mars has revealed the biggest challenge.
The good news is that astronauts age slower while they’re in space – which explains why 60-year-old Kononenko is still going strong.
However, this NASA astronaut recently revealed that being in space made him realize we are ‘living a lie’.
All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
