ISS inspired 'cosmic bullet'

A small object, possibly a meteorite, pierced the solar panel on the International Space Station (ISS), creating a "bullet hole" , RIA Novosti quoted Canadian astronauts and commander. Chief of the 35th ISS International Flight Chris Hadfield said April 30.

"Bullet holes" can be caused by a small stone from the universe flying through our solar panel. Luckily, it didn't crash into the modules of the station, astronaut Chris Hadfield wrote on Twitter.

Solar panel on ISS - (Photo: Chris Hadfield / NASA)

At the same time, ISS commander also revealed a photo showing the damaged solar panel, which he took during his recent walk in space.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield said that the "bullet hole" could be caused by a random flying object, which could also be cosmic garbage, but with its small size, it was not able to damage the station body.

It is known that currently on ISS there are six people living and working under the 35th ISS International Fleet. In it, commander Chris Hadfield (Canadian Space Agency - CSA) with Tom Marshburn (Aviation Agency and NASA - NASA and Roman Romanenko (Roscosmos) was commissioned by Soyuz spacecraft TMA-07M on December 21, 2012, expected to return to Earth in May.

The three remaining astronauts, Chris Cassidy (NASA), Alexander Misurkin and Pavel Vinogradov (Roscosmos), were put on the station by Soyuz TMA-08M on March 28, and will return in September.

On April 26, astronauts on ISS picked up the supply ship Progress M-19M carrying 2.5 tons of cargo including food, fuel and scientific equipment to supply the station.