Russia has made serious accusations against a NASA astronaut, namely that he was mentally ill so he carried out sabotage on the International Space Station (ISS). NASA also denied the allegations as baseless.
Russian news agency TASS, citing an official source at the country's space agency, claimed that in 2018, Serena Auñón-Chancellor, a NASA astronaut and scientist, experienced an emotional breakdown.
Then Serena destroys Russia's Soyuz spacecraft in order to return to Earth faster. Indeed, that year, a mysterious malfunction occurred in the form of a hole in the Soyuz module which had just docked to the ISS after bringing astronauts from Earth.
There are several theories regarding the appearance of the hole. The first is that there is a collision originating from space junk. Then the second theory, the hole has existed since the plane was still on Earth due to the carelessness of Russian engineers.
But Russia currently accuses the hole of being caused by Serena. Not only that, the article also revealed that Serena was treated upon arrival on Earth for suffering from deep vein thrombosis. That's one of the reasons the Russians say put the astronaut under mental stress in space.
Responding to this accusation, NASA immediately reacted. "Serena is a respected crew member who has served her country and made an invaluable contribution to NASA," said Kathy Lueders, NASA's Human Spaceflight Chief.
"And I stand on Serena's side, we stand on her side and her professional actions and I don't find the allegations (from Russia) credible," he added.
The Russian side may want to divert attention because recently there was also a problem with the International Space Station (ISS) suddenly tilting in orbit. This is because the Russian Nauka module had just docked on the ISS and suddenly started its propulsion engine. Luckily the problem was quickly fixed.