Technology and science
February 24, 2023 at 10:12 am
Photo: NASA | A ship flew to the ISS to rescue astronauts: the causes of the recent accident are known
The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft will take Russian astronauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev, as well as NASA’s Frank Rubio, back to Earth only this fall.
On Friday, February 24, the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which flew to the International Space Station to bring three ISS crew members home later this year. These astronauts could not return to Earth due to damage received by another Russian spacecraft, which is currently docked with the orbital station, writes Algeria.
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Although the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft was successfully launched into space on Friday, February 24, it will arrive at the ISS only early in the morning on Sunday, February 26. Although this mission is a rescue one, because its goal is to bring home the Russians Petelin and Prokopiev together with the American Rubio, nevertheless, their return to Earth will not take place until September of this year. As already wrote Focusthe date when the new spacecraft will be launched to the orbital station was announced recently.
These three astronauts flew to the space station in September last year aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft and were supposed to spend six months, until March, in space. But after a meteorite damaged their vehicle’s cooling system more than two months ago, the astronauts’ return to Earth was in jeopardy.
On Friday, February 24, the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which flew to the International Space Station to bring three ISS crew members home later this year.
Photo: NASA
The decision was made to send a replacement to this ship so that the new vehicle could not only bring the astronauts home, but would also serve as a “rescue ship” in the event of a significant accident on the ISS.
But that launch was delayed because another Russian spacecraft docked to the ISS, this time it was the Progress cargo spacecraft, also had an accident that also damaged the cooling system. About this accident Focus already wrote in detail. By the way, this “truck” was recently flooded in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, as I already wrote Focus.
As the Roskosmos investigation showed, two identical accidents on Russian spacecraft were unrelated. According to the statement of the engineers, as in the case of the Soyuz MS-22, a meteorite also hit the Progress cargo ship.
Initially, the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft was supposed to fly to the ISS in mid-March this year, along with new astronauts on board, who would replace Rubio, Petelin and Prokopiev on the ISS. But given the current situation, the ship flew into space without a crew. Therefore, the three astronauts will have to stay in space for several more months, presumably until September, until a replacement crew arrives.
There are now four more astronauts on the ISS who arrived last October on a SpaceX spacecraft as part of the Crew-5 mission. Already on Monday, February 27, the next SpaceX spacecraft should fly to the ISS, which will deliver a change to the above crew. These will be members of the Crew-6 mission, namely two NASA astronauts, an astronaut from the UAE and one Russian. After their arrival, the astronauts of the Crew-5 mission will return to Earth in a few days.
As for the Soyuz MS-23 unmanned spacecraft, it did not go into space “empty-handed”, because more than 400 kg of useful cargo for astronauts were placed on board. The only “crew member” of this ship was a small teddy bear.
As for the Soyuz MS-23 unmanned spacecraft, it did not go into space “empty-handed”, because more than 400 kg of useful cargo for astronauts were placed on board. The only “crew member” of this ship was a small teddy bear.
Photo: NASA
Focus also wrote that previously one option was considered to save Petelin, Prokopiev and Rubio in the event of an accident on the ISS. It consisted in the fact that two Russians would nevertheless go to Earth on the damaged Soyuz, and Rubio would use the extra space on the SpaceX spacecraft already docked to the ISS, which is intended for the astronauts of the Crew-5 mission.
