MOSCOW. Feb 13 (Interfax) - The Progress MS-21 ship lost hermeticity at the International Space Station (ISS) after the Progress MS-22 docked at the ISS, Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov said.
"The unscheduled situation happened after the docking of the Progress MS-22 transport ship, all hatches had already been shut, Progress MS-21 had already been prepared for the descent slated for February 18," Borisov was quoted by the corporation's press service as saying on Monday.
He said Roscosmos specialists were looking at all possible causes, "including, we are checking, once again, the entire technological process of creating the spaceship and its thermal control system in particular."
The ISS crew were totally safe, he also said.
Roscosmos reported the problem on February 11 after Progress MS-22 docked at the ISS lost air tightness.
Roscosmos Executive Director for Manned Missions Sergei Krikalev said then that the thermal control system of the Progress MS-21 freighter docked at the ISS has leaked a heat agent.
He likened the current situation to the Soyuz MS-222 one last December.
A commission set up to investigate the leak already started working, and Roscosmos will analyze the materials and technologies used during the assembly of the spacecraft, after the loss of hermeticity, Krikalyov said.
Temperatures and pressure aboard the station were normal, the crew's health and lives were not in danger, Roscosmos said.
The situation will not affect the subsequent program of manned flights, it said.