"[6] Russian crew members used Kapton tape to temporarily seal the leak while a permanent fix was devised.

The leak was successfully sealed with the use of a repair kit based on an epoxy sealant, and no further changes in air pressure were noted as of 31 August.

[9] On 11 December 2018, Kononenko and Prokopyev conducted an EVA, cutting into the thermal blankets and pulling away insulation, in order to examine the external hull, take images of the area and retrieve samples of residue to be used in the investigation.

[13] On April 20, 2021, major Russian language tabloid Moskovskij Komsomolets published an article citing a Facebook post by Vadim Lukashevich which claimed that the hole was drilled by Serena Auñón-Chancellor, after a blood clot developed in her jugular vein,[14] which was disputed by NASA and called "preposterous" by Ars Technica.

[16] The results of a Roscosmos investigation were later handed over to “law enforcement authorities” in late 2021, with a new theory being promoted by state media: that the hole is “due to suffering [psychologically] after a failed romantic relationship with one of the crew members.”[17]