Russia plans to send, on February 24, a space module to rescue three crew members from the International Space Station (ISS), after having postponed a launch in recent days, according to the agency France-Presse (AFP).
“The launch is scheduled for February 24”told AFP a source from the Russian space agency (Roscosmos), specifying that the final decision belongs to the State Commission, which should meet “proximately”.
Roscosmos indicated, in a statement, that “the Council of main designers [aeroespaciais] recommended to the State Commission schedule the launch of the special module Soyuz MS-23 […] a partir de Baikonur on February 24 at 03:34 Moscow time” (00:24 in Lisbon).
On Monday, the Russian space agency had announced that would postpone the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 – which should bring three astronauts to Earth – by, at the latest, the beginning of March, after discovering a new leak aboard another module docked on the ISS.
This new incident occurred two months after a first escape in another module attached to the station, which was supposed to bring two Russian cosmonauts and the American Frank Rubio back to Earth.
In view of the impossibility of using the damaged capsule, Roscosmos announced in mid-January that it wanted to use another capsulethe Soyuz MS-23, to go to the international station to rescue the crew.
The ISS is one of the few fields of cooperation still ongoing between Moscow and Washington since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, launched precisely on February 24, 2022 and which led to international sanctions against Russia.
