The Russian space agency announced today that it will send a rescue ship to the International Space Station (ISS) to bring three astronauts, two Russians and one American, to Earth following the capsule that was to carry them was damaged.
The MS-23 ship will be launched on February 20 “without passengers but with material”, following a “spectacular coolant leak” was detected last December in the Soyuz MS-22 capsule.
In the pictures a jet of particles was seen “clearly” coming out of the rear of the vehicle, detailed the Russian space agency Roscosmoswho considered that the state of the device was “too uncertain” to bring the Russian astronauts Serguei Prokopiev and Dmitri Petelin and the American Frank Rubio.
The takeoff of this new ship was initially scheduled for March 16 to take three other passengers to the ISS, where seven people are already, the AFP news agency reported.
«Not counting the damaged MS-22, only one rescue vehicle remains, with the capacity to transport four people, in case an evacuation has to be carried out.” Roscosmos said in a statement.
The Russian agency assured that the damaged capsule will return to Earth without passengers, but “does not rule out” the possibility of using it to transport them in the event of “a particularly critical situation” on board the ISS.
Regarding the causes of the coolant leak, Roscosmos ruled out any mechanical problem with the ship and confirmed that it was due to the impact of a small meteorite.which caused a hole “less than a millimeter in diameter” in a refrigeration pipe.
The ISS is one of the few sectors in which Russia and the United States maintain cooperation following the start of the war with Ukraine.
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