The two Russian cosmonauts and the American astronaut took off at the end of September 2022 with the Soyuz MS-22. The vessels aboard which astronauts and cosmonauts arrive on the ISS then remain docked to the station throughout their stay, in order to be able to serve as a backup vehicle in the event of an emergency evacuation being necessary. They also leave on board the same craft. But in December, the Soyuz MS-22 suffered a spectacular leak, due according to Moscow to the impact of a micrometeorite.
The coolant leak had raised concerns regarding the temperature that might be reached inside the ship when it returned to Earth. The Russian space agency has therefore decided that it can only be used in an emergency, and has chosen to send the MS-23 spacecraft as a replacement, which will bring the crew back in September.
The damaged MS-22 ship must be undocked from the ISS and return to Earth empty, a priori at the end of next month. A leak similar to the December incident also affected another Russian spacecraft, the Progress MS-21 cargo ship, docked at the ISS since October in mid-February. But this one was not intended to carry passengers, and it undocked last week.
Roscosmos reported on Tuesday that a “external impact“caused this leak, and ruled out a manufacturing defect.
