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Old September 16th 18, 02:08 PM posted to sci.space.station
Jeff Findley[_6_]
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Default Space Station Leak May Have Been Caused by Human Error, Russian Reports Say

In article ,
says...

I'd have thought though that if it was in the capsule, then it would have
shown up while in the flight to the station.
Unless of course the problem was some kind of seal at the docking point.


Speculation is that a worker accidentally drilled the hole then filled
it with glue, or something similar. Thermal cycling, exposure to vacuum
on one side, and the one atmosphere pressure load on the other
eventually caused it to fail.

The other theory that Russia has floated is that an astronaut drilled
the hole while the Soyuz was docked to ISS. They have also floated the
suggestion that an unplanned EVA be performed to cut back the insulation
on the outside of the module to allow for inspection. I'm not sure how
that would provide any useful data though.

Jeff
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