Reuters: Russia he announced on Wednesday that it will launch a Soyuz spacecraft next month to bring back two Russians and an American astronaut from the International Space Station after their craft was hit by micrometeoroids and began leaking last month.
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 services Roscosmos. Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and the American astronaut Francisco Rubio was supposed to end their mission in March, but now they will return with MS-23.
"They are ready to follow whatever decision is made," said Joel Montalbano, NASA's ISS program manager, at a news conference.
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 case of emergency need, if the crew is really threatened on the station, then probably the risk of staying on the station may be greater than landing on a Soyuz that has a problem, said Sergei Krikalev, head of Russia's space crew department.
