Russia is to send a replacement Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) on February 20 to bring three astronauts – two Russians and one American – to Earth after the capsule that was supposed to carry them sustained damage.
The Soyuz MS-22 capsule, currently docked with the ISS, experienced a severe coolant leak in mid-December. The images showed a jet of particles coming out of the rear of the vehicle.
After examining the state of the damaged ship, the Russian space agency (Roscosmos) decided it would be preferable to send another one, Soyuz MS-23, to bring back Russian cosmonauts Serguei Prokopiev and Dmitri Petelin and American astronaut Frank Rubio.
The capsule “will be launched on February 20, 2023 without passengers” but with material, Roscosmos said in a statement.
Initially, this ship was scheduled to launch on March 16 to bring three more crew members to the ISS.
The return date of the two Russian cosmonauts and the US astronaut, originally scheduled for March 28, has not been announced, but their mission has been “extended by several months,” the director of manned flights told a press conference. by Roscosmos, Sergei. .
The damaged capsule will return to Earth without passengers, probably “in mid to late March,” he added.
– Emergency scenarios –
While awaiting the arrival of the replacement ship, in the event of an emergency involving the need to evacuate the ISS, the Russian and American space agencies are studying various scenarios.
However, they stressed that this possibility is highly unlikely. The first would be for the three crew members to return aboard the damaged Soyuz, despite concerns about the temperature inside the ship upon landing.
The second would be to decrease “the thermal load” on board the Soyuz, “by reducing the crew”. A crew member would then be transported by a SpaceX spacecraft, also currently docked with the ISS.
In addition to the three crew members who arrived aboard Soyuz, the ISS currently has four other occupants, who arrived aboard SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.
The idea would be to ensure only one person on board, “in the area where the load is normally located,” explained Joel Montalbano, head of the ISS program at NASA.
– Impact of micrometeorites –
The leak was detected on December 14 on the Soyuz as two Russian cosmonauts were preparing to take a spacewalk.
In an initial assessment of the causes of the loss, possible ruptures caused by small meteorites of natural origin, artificial debris in orbit or material rupture were considered.
On Wednesday, Roscomos said the version of a micrometeorite impact “has been proven experimentally.” According to the Russian space agency, it punched a hole “less than a millimeter in diameter” in a cooling tube.
Given the speed with which experts believe the object hit the ISS, it cannot be anything other than a “randomly directed meteor” and not a piece of debris, which “could not have remained in that orbit” at that time. speed, Krikaliov explained, dismissing any kind of mechanical issue.
The ISS is one of the few sectors in which Russia and the United States are still collaborating, following the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine on February 24 last year and the Western sanctions following the conflict.
Last month, the director of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, thanked the Americans for their solidarity on board the ISS, who “extended a hand to help us”, at a time when bilateral relations are at their highest level.
The ISS was launched in 1998, during a period of collaboration between Moscow and Washington, following the space race between the two countries during the Cold War.
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© Agence France-Presse
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