Stranded ISS crew (type of)
A number of media sources are reporting this week on an upcoming launch by Russia’s space company – on Friday, February 24, 2023 – to supply a trip house for 2 cosmonauts and one U.S. astronaut presently aboard the Worldwide House Station (ISS).
The space vacationers – Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, and U.S. astronaut Frank Rubio – are aboard ISS and not using a designated ship to get house. That’s as a result of the ship that carried them to ISS sprang a very visible coolant leak in its radiator cooling loop – apparently from a micrometeoroid collision – in December.
The Russian crew capsule Soyuz MS-22 had delivered the three new crew members to ISS on September 21, 2022. Whereas docked on the ISS, video confirmed the Soyuz was spraying a “snowstorm” of particles in December. Seems the leak was the explanation.
The crew’s mission was supposed to finish in March. Then the choice was made to depart the crew in place inside ISS till September. Nonetheless, in case ISS must be evacuated, they want a functioning ship for the trip house.
This Friday’s ‘rescue’ mission
Roscosmos has been planning to ship up one other uncrewed ship to the ISS for the stranded crew to ultimately return house in. The date of that launch grew to become official on Monday, when the Russian state information company TASS reported that the State Fee formally granted a allow for launch on Friday, February 24, 2023.
The three ‘stranded’ astronauts – a part of the seven-member Expedition 68 crew – have been initially presupposed to return to Earth in March 2023. The brand new plan has them extending their keep till September 2023.
House.com reported that the explanation they’re extending their keep in orbit an additional six months is as a result of the:
subsequent Soyuz [the Soyuz launching Friday] will keep docked on the ISS till its successor — a automobile that may carry crew — is able to go.
Launch of the Soyuz MS-23 from Russia might be at 3:24:27 a.m. Moscow time on Friday, February 24. That interprets to 00:24:27 UTC on February 24, or 6:24 p.m. CST on February 23.
The Soyuz MS-23 launch was initially scheduled for February 20, however confronted a delay as a consequence of a second leaky spacecraft.
A 2nd leak, in a 2nd craft
In February, Roscosmos detected a second spacecraft docked on the ISS was additionally leaking. This second spacecraft is a provide ship named Progress 82 and often known as Progress MS-21 to the Russians. The provision ship launched again on October 28, 2022, and reached the ISS with out incident and docked efficiently.
After discovering the leak on February 11, engineers undocked Progress 82 from the ISS on February 18. They took images to examine the craft. Then, loaded with trash, Progress 82 fired its engine to de-orbit. Lower than an hour later, it impacted within the Southern Pacific Ocean. (This space has the nickname because the spacecraft cemetery, as a result of it’s an uninhabited space focused for re-entry of spacecraft corresponding to the previous Mir space station.)
Roscosmos believes the sources of each leaks are tiny bits of rock and different materials in space (micrometeoroids). On February 21, Anatoly Zak at RussianSpaceWeb.com reported that Roscosmos stated:
Based mostly on the preliminary evaluation of the state of affairs with Progress MS-21 at RKK Energia, the cargo ship had skilled an exterior impression … This conclusion was made based mostly the images which revealed modifications on the outside of the automobile … the holes found (on the images after undocking) had not been seen both in the course of the manufacturing of the Progress MS-21 on the manufacturing unit, nor throughout its preparation for launch, nor throughout its flight and docking with the ISS.
“Exterior impression” blamed for coolant loss (…once more, this time on the Progress MS-21 cargo ship).
DETAILS: https://t.co/QA5zHmYE03 pic.twitter.com/h7GWfWPJuJ— Anatoly Zak (@RussianSpaceWeb) February 21, 2023
Regardless of two latest leaks as a consequence of doable micrometeoroid strikes, all sources agree that the probability of one other impression to the soon-to-launch Soyuz MS-23 is low.
Backside line: The Russians will launch an empty space capsule to the space station on Friday for the stranded ISS crew to ultimately trip house in.
