After a leak was discovered in a Russian “Soyuz” capsule, the US space agency NASA selected a “Crew Dragon” docked at the ISS as a temporary emergency spacecraft. This was decided after discussions with its operator SpaceX, Elon Musk’s private spaceflight company, in the event of an unforeseen emergency, NASA said.
In principle, however, the plan is still for the three astronauts – the two cosmonauts Sergei Prokopjew and Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio – to fly back to Earth from the International Space Station with a replacement spacecraft.
This will likely take place at the end of September – instead of March as originally planned, the US space agency NASA said at a press conference on Tuesday (local time).
The three astronauts came to the ISS last September aboard the Soyuz MS-22 capsule. Then, in December, a leak was discovered on the capsule, causing coolant to escape (see image above). According to experts, the hole was created by the impact of a micrometeor.
Damaged “Soyuz” to fly back unmanned
Now, on February 20, the “Soyuz MS-23” will be sent to the ISS from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan as a replacement spacecraft. Then the “Soyuz MS-22” should fly back to earth unmanned after some conversion work.
In addition, the “Crew 6” – consisting of two US astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and an astronaut from the United Arab Emirates – should depart from the US for humanity’s outpost in space between mid and late February.
Soon after, “Crew 5” — NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata — will return to Earth.
Source: Krone
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