An unmanned Soyuz space capsule docked with the International Space Station on Sunday to replace a damaged Russian space shuttle. Soyuz MS-23 launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday and arrived at the ISS on Sunday, according to live images from the US space agency NASA.
The capsule carried about 430 kilograms of equipment for the crew, including medical equipment and equipment for scientific experiments. The unusual mission became necessary because the “MS-22” ferry, previously docked at the ISS, has a leak – likely caused by a micrometeorite. Fluid leaking from the cooling system (pictured below) made the return to Earth of two Russians and an American man risky.
It is now planned that cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, as well as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who came to the ISS in September on the “Soyuz MS-22”, are expected to return to Earth in the fall on the “MS – 23”. The damaged “MS-22” capsule will fly back unmanned from the ISS in March.
Although Russia and the US have been working closely together on the space station some 400 kilometers above Earth for more than 20 years, the relationship has entered a serious crisis since the Russian invasion of Ukraine about a year ago. Both countries continue to cooperate in space, although tensions have already arisen here – caused by the conflict in Ukraine.
Source: Krone
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