Russia’s house company stated on Wednesday it might launch a Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft on Feb. 20 to deliver residence two cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut from the International Space Station (ISS) after their unique capsule sprang a coolant leak final month.
The leak stemmed from a tiny puncture within the exterior radiator of the Soyuz MS-22 capsule which is at the moment docked to the ISS and had been attributable to deliver the three crew members again to Earth in March.
“The expedition of Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Francisco Rubio to the ISS is being extended. They will return to Earth on Soyuz MS-23,” Roskosmos stated.
“The launch of the Soyuz MS-23 will be on Feb. 20, 2023 in an unmanned mode,” Roskosmos stated.
The MS-23 launch had earlier been deliberate for mid-March. Soyuz MS-22 will descend to Earth with no crew, it stated.
Roskosmos stated harm to the radiator pipeline occurred because of a meteorite.
“The diameter of the hole is less than 1 millimeter,” it stated.
The incident has disrupted Russia’s ISS actions, forcing a suspension of spacewalks by its cosmonauts as officers give attention to the leaky capsule, which serves as a lifeboat for the crew.
The leak can also be an issue for NASA. The U.S. company stated final month it was exploring whether or not SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft might supply another journey residence for some ISS crew members, in case Russia was unable to launch one other Soyuz.
