The pod the team was in was damaged after a leak
a Russian spaceship soyuz took off on Friday Kazakhstan to the International Space Station (ISS) return to Earth in September by bringing back three astronauts, two Russians and one American, whose capsule had been damaged.
The MS-23 replacement spacecraft took off without people on board from the Cosmodrome Baikonuraccording to a video broadcast by NASAwhich operates the ISS with the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Liftoff and launch of the spacecraft “proceeded normally,” Roscosmos said in a statement, and he expects it to dock with the space station on Feb. 26 at 01:01 GMT.
The launch of this device was initially scheduled for mid-March to carry a new crew of three to the ISS. But there was a change of plans and the ship had to go alone to rescue the three astronauts: the Russians Sergei Prokopiev AND Dimitri Petlin, and the American Frank Rubio.
In the absence of crew members to replace them, the mission of the three was extended until September, even though in principle they were to return at the end of March. In total, they will spend a year in space instead of six months. The two Russian cosmonauts and the American astronaut took off at the end of September 2022 with the Soyuz MS-22.
Normally the capsules with which astronauts arrive at the ISS remain attached to the station for their entire stay, in case they need an emergency evacuation. They also often come back with the same device. But, last December, the Soyuz MS-22 suffered a breach caused, according to Moscow, by the impact of a micrometeorite. This incident raised fears about the temperature that could be reached inside the spacecraft when it comes time to return to Earth.
The Russian space agency decided it could only be used in an emergency and sent the spacecraft MS-23 in lieu of crew return in September. The damaged MS-22 should be released from the ISS and returned empty to Earth, a priori, in early March.
A similar leak occurred in mid-February with another Russian spacecraft on the freighter MS-21 progress, docked to the ISS since October. This did not need to carry passengers and was undocked last week. Roscosmos said on Tuesday that an “external impact” caused the leak and ruled out production errors.
In addition to the three crew members who arrived aboard the Soyuz, the ISS currently has four other passengers, mission members. Crew-5 and that they came with a capsule SpaceX Dragon in October 2022. The US company is expected to send its four mission replacements Crew-6 at the station on Monday: two NASA astronauts, an Emirati and a Russian cosmonaut.
After a transition of several days, Crew-5 will return to Earth. The ISS is one of the few areas of cooperation left between Moscow and Washington since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, which began a year ago. /With information from AFP
Source: Terra
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