Reuters: Russia he announced on Wednesday ότι θα εκτοξεύσει ένα διαστημόπλοιο Soyuz τον επόμενο μήνα για να φέρει πίσω δύο Ρώσους και έναν Αμερικανό αστροναύτη από τον Διεθνή Διαστημικό Σταθμό, αφού το σκάφος τους χτυπήθηκε από μικρομετεωροειδή και άρχισαν διαρροές τον περασμένο μήνα.
The leak originated from a tiny puncture – less than 1 millimeter wide – in the external cooling system of the Soyuz MS-22 capsule, one of two return capsules tethered to the ISS that can return crew members.
Russia announced that a new capsule, Soyuz MS-23, will be sent on February 20 to replace the damaged Soyuz MS-22, which will return to Earth empty.
"Having analyzed the state of the spacecraft, thermal calculations and technical documentation, it was concluded that MS-22 should be landed without a crew," said Yuri Borisov, head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos. Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and American astronaut Francisco Rubio were due to end their mission in March, but will now return with MS-23.
“Είναι έτοιμοι να ακολουθήσουν όποια απόφαση παρθεί, είπε ο Joel Montalbano, διευθυντής προγράμματος ISS της NASA, σε μια συνέντευξη Τύπου.
MS-23, which was due to carry three new crew in March, will depart from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome as an unmanned rescue mission next month. If there is an emergency in the meantime, Roscosmos said it will consider whether the MS-22 spacecraft can be used to rescue the crew.
In this scenario, temperatures in the capsule could reach unhealthy levels of 30-40 degrees Celsius. "In the event of an emergency, if the crew is really threatened on the station, then probably the risk of staying on the station may be greater than going down on a Soyuz that has a problem," said Sergei Krikalev, head of the space crew department at of Russia.
