Russia will send a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station on February 20 to bring back two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut after the device that was supposed to transport them was damaged.
The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, currently docked with the ISS, suffered a spectacular coolant leak in mid-December, images show a jet of particles exiting the rear of the vehicle.
Deeming the condition of the device too uncertain to bring back two Russian cosmonauts, Sergei Prokopiev and Dmitri Peteline, and American astronaut Frank Rubio, the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) announced that it would send another spacecraft, the Soyuz MS – 23
“It was decided to send the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft on February 20, 2023 without passengers but with equipment,” Roscosmos said in a statement. The launch of this device was originally scheduled for March 16 and was supposed to carry three more passengers to the ISS.
The date for the return of the two Russians and the American to the ISS, originally planned for March 28, has not been announced. However, their mission has been “extended,” Roscosmos has hinted.
In addition, according to Roscomos, the damaged ship will return to Earth without a passenger.
However, the Russian agency does not rule out using this ship to transport passengers “if a particularly critical situation arises on board the ISS.”
There are currently seven people on board the ISS. Aside from the damaged MS-22, there is only one rescue vehicle left, which can only carry four people in case it needs to be evacuated.
An initial assessment of the causes of the coolant leak that occurred in mid-December mentioned the possibility of ruptures caused by small naturally occurring meteorites, artificial debris in orbit, or hardware failure.
On Wednesday, Roscomos ruled out a mechanical failure and said the version of a “(micrometeorite) impact has been experimentally proven.” According to the Russian agency, this impact opened a hole less than a millimeter in diameter in a cooling tube.
The ISS is one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and Washington that is still ongoing since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24 and the subsequent Western sanctions.
The International Space Station was launched in 1998 at a time of US-Russia cooperation following the space race in which the two countries participated during the Cold War.