Russia launched an uncrewed Soyuz spacecraft on Friday for a NASA astronaut and two cosmonauts after their original ride back to Earth was damaged by a micrometeoroid impact while parked at the International Space Station in December.
The rescue plan was announced last month. The empty rescue capsule, Soyuz MS-23, blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Friday morning and is set to dock at the orbiting lab on Sunday.
WATCH: NASA launched a Roscomos Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station to bring back a stranded crew to Earth https://t.co/aUNd9r46fs pic.twitter.com/6brPI1vVzm
— Reuters Asia (@ReutersAsia) February 24, 2023
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin were supposed to return to Earth in March, but when Prokopyev and Petelin were preparing for a spacewalk in mid-December, they noticed liquid coolant particles spraying from the docked Soyuz capsule. The spacewalk was canceled, and NASA and Roscosmos later determined the damaged capsule was too dangerous to return the trio.
Tonight’s spacewalk with cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin is on standby as mission controllers assess flakes seen leaking from the Soyuz MS-22 crew ship. pic.twitter.com/jC5X1oaEDh
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) December 15, 2022
The damaged Soyuz will return to Earth for further inspection at the end of March. There will be no crew on board.
The three men arrived at the ISS in September on what was expected to be a six-month mission, but that will be extended for another six months.
NASA is sending another crew of four to the ISS Monday via a SpaceX rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 02/24/2023 – 14:00
