Russia to send rescue mission to space station

Russia mentioned Wednesday that it’s going to ship an empty spacecraft to the Worldwide House Station (ISS) subsequent month to convey dwelling three astronauts whose deliberate return automobile was broken by a strike from a tiny meteoroid.

The Russian space company, Roscosmos, made the announcement after inspecting the flight worthiness of the Soyuz MS-22 crew capsule docked with the ISS that sprang a radiator coolant leak in December.

Roscosmos and NASA officers mentioned at a joint press briefing that an uncrewed Soyuz spacecraft, MS-23, can be despatched to the ISS on February 20 to convey Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio again to Earth.

“We’re not calling it a rescue Soyuz,” mentioned Joel Montalbano, ISS program supervisor at NASA’s Johnson House Middle in Houston. “I am calling it a alternative Soyuz.

“Proper now the crew is secure onboard the space station.”

MS-22 flew Petelin, Prokopyev and Rubio to the ISS in September after taking off from the Russian-operated Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

They have been scheduled to return dwelling in the identical spacecraft in March, however their keep on the ISS will now be prolonged by a number of further months.

“I could have to search out some extra ice cream to reward them,” Montalbano joked.

MS-22 started leaking coolant on December 14—shortly earlier than Russian cosmonauts have been to start a spacewalk—after being hit by what US and Russian space officers imagine was a tiny space rock.

Montalbano mentioned “every thing does level to a micrometeoroid” and never space debris, or a technical downside.

The chief director of Human House Flight Packages at Roscosmos, Sergei Krikalev, mentioned the “present principle is that this injury was brought on by a small particle about one millimeter in diameter.”

MS-23 had been scheduled to fly Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub and NASA’s Loral O’Hara to the ISS on March 16.

SpaceX Crew Dragon

The choice was made to make use of MS-23 to fly the present crew dwelling, Krikalev mentioned, due to considerations over potential excessive temperatures within the broken MS-22 throughout reentry to Earth’s environment.

He mentioned it may nonetheless probably be used “in case of emergency.”

One other emergency situation includes utilizing the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that’s presently docked with the ISS after flying 4 astronauts to the space station in October for a six-month mission.

Montalbano mentioned discussions have been underway with SpaceX about utilizing the Crew Dragon capsule to fly dwelling different astronauts aboard the ISS.

“We may safely safe the crew members within the space that the cargo usually returns on the Dragon,” Montalbano mentioned.

“All that’s just for an emergency, provided that we have now to evacuate ISS,” the NASA official pressured. “That is not the nominal plan or something like that.”

Krikalev mentioned an uncrewed MS-22 would return to Earth, in all probability in March, following the arrival of the alternative automobile.

It could convey again gear and experiments that aren’t “temperature delicate,” he mentioned.

When the unique MS-23 crew will get to the ISS continues to be being labored out, Montalbano added.

House has remained a uncommon venue of cooperation between Moscow and Washington for the reason that 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 Warfare “House Race.”

Russia has been utilizing the ageing however dependable Soyuz capsules to ferry astronauts into space for the reason that Nineteen Sixties.

© 2023 AFP