“Unexpected odor” recorded on the International Space Station

International Space Station (ISS) operators were recently alerted to what was described as an “unexpected odor” coming from the Russian Progress cargo spacecraft that docked at the orbital outpost on Saturday. What is happening on the “Russian side”?

Progress released a strong smell after returning from Earth
After being launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Progress spacecraft brought with it about 2.5 tons of supplies and other cargo for the seven-person crew aboard the orbital outpost.
The ship's arrival at the station's Poisk module appeared to have gone smoothly, but when Russian cosmonauts Ivan Vagner and Aleksandr Gorbunov opened the ship's hatch, they noticed an odor and drops of an unidentified liquid.
As a matter of precaution, the cosmonauts abandoned the area and closed the Poisk hatch to the rest of the Russian segment. The space station's air purifiers and contamination sensors monitored the station's atmosphere, and on Sunday, flight controllers were able to confirm that air quality inside the ISS was at normal levels.

There are no concerns for the crew, and as of Sunday afternoon, the crew is working to open the hatch between Poisk and Progress, while all other space station operations are proceeding as planned.

NASA said num post no X.

International Space Station on the Russian side again in the spotlight
In an update posted to its website on Monday, NASA said the Roscosmos cosmonauts reported that the odor quickly disappeared and that it may have been caused by “outgassing materials within the cargo spacecraft,” although it didn’t mention anything about the droplets. The transfer of cargo from the Progress capsule to the main station is proceeding as planned.
This is not the first time that a Russian spacecraft docked at the ISS has been in the spotlight. A more serious event involved a dramatic coolant leak on a Soyuz spacecraft in December 2022.
After investigating the problem, it was determined that the damaged ship might not be safe enough to bring home the three crew members who arrived on it, so Russia sent a replacement ship. And in 2021, the docked Russian Nauka module caused a scare when its thrusters suddenly fired, temporarily moving the ISS away from its orientation.
No one aboard the station was injured in the incident and the installation quickly returned to its correct orientation.