Monitoring Desk
MOSCOW: Russia has sent an uncrewed Soyuz spacecraft on a rescue mission to return two Kazakh cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut whose trip back to Earth was hampered after their space vehicle was damaged by a mini meteorite when it was parked at the International Space Station.
The Soyuz MS-23 vessel was launched successfully from the Russian-operated Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday.
The 3 astronauts arrived at the ISS in September 2022 by MS-22 spacecraft and were originally to stay about 6 months until the end of March. But the MS-22 started to leak coolant in December following an apparent micro-meteorite damaged an external radiator.
The same thing happened again earlier in February, this time on a docked Russian cargo ship. Videos showed a small hole in each spacecraft.
No alternative crew for space station
MS-23, which started its journey on Friday, was initially scheduled to go in mid-March with two cosmonauts and one astronaut on board who would take over from Petelin, Rubio, and Prokopyev at the space station. But without the alternative crew on board MS-23, the two Russians and the US crew member will now continue work at the ISS until September.
Officials thought that it was too risky to bring the 3 back in their damaged Soyuz MS-22 in March as originally planned. With no coolant, the cabin temperature would increase during the trip back to earth, potentially damaging computers and other equipment, and exposing the suited-up crew to excessive heat.
In addition to the 3-crew awaiting the arrival of MS-23, there are also 4 others currently on the station after arriving on a SpaceX Dragon capsule in October last year as part of the Crew-five mission.
