Cosmos. ISS. Another leak delays the return of astronauts from the International Space Station

In September last year, the Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (ISS) with three astronauts on board: the Russians Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitry Petlin, and the American Frank Rubio. In December, a coolant leak was detected in the outer radiator of the capsule. The fault turned out to be so serious that it would be dangerous to bring the crew to Earth aboard this ship. Since then, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos has been pondering when and how to get astronauts “trapped” on the ISS back home.

The Russian space agency said Tuesday that the crew will return to Earth in September aboard the Soyuz MS-23 transport capsule. This means that astronauts will spend about a year on the ISS. Roskosmos added that the extended stay in space – the standard duration of missions on the ISS is six months – there is no risk to the health of the crew and that they welcomed the news of the extension of their mission. This is not the first such case – in 2021, two other astronauts spent a year at the station.

Initially, Roskosmos planned to bring astronauts to Earth in February. However, this did not happen due to the failure of another Russian ship docked to the ISS, Progress MS-21, which also suffered a leak in the cooling system. It was discovered in the first half of February. Pending the determination of the cause of this failure, a decision was made to postpone the launch of Soyuz MS-23.

As reported on Sunday by the Russian space agency, Progress MS-21 was sunk in the Pacific Ocean. “The ship deorbited, entered the atmosphere and fell. Parts of its structure that did not burn up were found in the South Pacific on Saturday,” the release said.

On Tuesday, Roskosmos said the Progress MS-21 leak was caused by “external strikes”. The space agency reports that there were distinctive holes on the outside of the capsule, including on the radiator and solar panels.

The cause of damage to Soyuz MS-22, which launched the astronauts into orbit, was the impact of a space rock. A small meteoroid hit the ship and pierced its outer shell. A hole with a diameter of less than one millimeter was created.

“Space missions always carry a huge risk of life-threatening emergencies for astronauts,” Roscosmos explained. – Meteoroid impacts on a spacecraft or orbital station have happened before, but unlike Soyuz MS-22, never had such serious consequences. No country has a system to track fragments with a diameter of about 1 millimeter, he added.