The Russian space capsule “Soyuz MS-22” should actually fly three astronauts back to Earth from the International Space Station. However, since a leak (probably caused by a micrometeorite) was discovered in December (the video shows the coolant escaping through it), it will now undock unmanned at the end of March and fly to Earth.
That is what the person responsible for the Russian part of the ISS, Vladimir Solovyov, said on Russian television on Monday. According to the Interfax news agency, he did not give an exact date. According to the Russian space agency Roskosmos, the capsule will land like a manned spaceship on parachutes in the Kazakh steppe.
In recent weeks, Roskosmos engineers have been working on leaks in two space capsules docked at the ISS. The defective freight transporter “Progress MS-21” was disconnected and crashed in a controlled manner on Sunday. It burned up as it entered the Earth’s atmosphere, the last debris falling into the Pacific Ocean.
Astronauts later return to Earth
In December, a leak was discovered in the Soyuz MS-22 capsule designed for crewed flight. Due to this damage, the return of cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio from the ISS was delayed. They have to wait for the next unmanned Russian spacecraft, the “Soyuz MS-23”, for their return flight to Earth.
In addition to the trio, American astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann, her colleague Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and cosmonaut Anna Kikina are currently aboard the space station some 400 kilometers above Earth.
Source: Krone
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