Russia’s space company on Tuesday mentioned that the crew caught on the Worldwide House Station due to a broken capsule have been now anticipated to return to Earth in September, a yr after they first launched into orbit.
Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio flew to the ISS in September 2022 aboard a Soyuz MS-22 capsule.
They have been scheduled to return house in the identical spacecraft, however it started leaking coolant in mid-December after being hit by what US and Russian space officers imagine was a tiny space rock.
Russia plans to ship a rescue ship, a Soyuz MS-23, on February 24.
Earlier than the leak, the trio had been because of return to Earth on March 28, 2023.
However on Tuesday, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency mentioned in an announcement that their return “for the time being is scheduled to happen aboard the Soyuz MS-23 in September, 2023.”
Roscosmos mentioned the prolonged space keep—usually ISS missions final six months—posed no health risks for the crew, including that that they had taken the information of their mission extending “positively.”
In 2021, Russia’s Pyotr Dubrov and the US’s Mark Vande additionally spent a yr on the ISS after their mission was prolonged, it mentioned.
The launch of the rescue Soyuz capsule was itself postponed earlier this month after one other vessel—a Russian provide ship docked on the ISS, the Progress MS-21—had additionally leaked coolant, sparking concern.
On Tuesday Roscosmos mentioned that individual leak was attributable to an “exterior influence,” primarily based on photographs and movies that confirmed holes on the capsule’s exterior, together with on the radiator and solar panels.
House has remained a uncommon venue of cooperation between Moscow and Washington because the begin of the Russian offensive in Ukraine and ensuing Western sanctions on Russia.
The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of elevated US-Russia cooperation following the Chilly Conflict “House Race.”
Russia has been utilizing the getting older however dependable Soyuz capsules to ferry astronauts into space because the Nineteen Sixties.
However in recent times Russia’s space program has been beset by a litany of issues which have led to the lack of satellites and automobiles.
© 2023 AFP
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Crew caught on ISS to return to Earth in September: Russia (2023, February 21)
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