Russia ‘expected’ to launch rescue ship to ISS on Feb 24: official

Russia’s space company mentioned Saturday it was planning to ship a rescue ship on February 24 to deliver house three astronauts whose return car was broken by a tiny meteoroid.

“The launch is predicted on February 24,” a spokesman for the Roscosmos space company instructed AFP.

Final Monday, the space company mentioned it had delayed the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, saying a provide ship docked on the Worldwide House Station (ISS) had leaked coolant.

The Soyuz MS-22 flew Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the ISS in September.

They had 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 consider was a tiny space rock.

In January, Russia mentioned that it could ship an empty spacecraft to the ISS in February to deliver house the three astronauts.

Final Monday, the launch was postponed after one other vessel—a Russian provide ship docked on the ISS, the Progress MS-21—had additionally leaked coolant, sparking concern.

Earlier on Saturday, the Russian space company mentioned that chief designers had now beneficial that the launch of the rescue ship be set for 03:34 am (00:34 GMT) on February 24.

The Soyuz MS-23 had been rigorously examined, and no harm had been discovered, the space company mentioned.

Now a state fee has to log off on the brand new date.

The Roscosmos official instructed AFP that the state fee was broadly anticipated to approve the brand new launch date.

The Progress provide ship will probably be de-orbited on February 19, the space agency mentioned in a separate assertion.

© 2023 AFP