The capsule on the International Space Station was crippled by a meteor shortly before the crew departed for Earth, it has been revealed.
Following recent horrific events where their spacecraft’s coolant was dramatically leaked just before their departure from the International Space Station to Earth, the stranded crew will be rescued. by a new capsule of the Russian space corporation Roscosmos, it was announced. Roscosmos will launch a new spacecraft to bring some crew members back to Earth.
The scary part is that it has been confirmed that the leak in the Soyuz capsule was caused by a micrometeorite that crashed into it. NASA states that a micrometeor is a grain smaller than a grain of sand. However, even this little thing can have a big effect on the hard surface of these flying machines.
Notable are two Russian cosmonauts, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, and a NASA astronautFrank Rubio planned to use the Soyuz MS-22 capsule to go back The earth in December. However, the leaked coolant resulted in higher cabin temperatures, and amid uncertainty, their departure was cancelled.
Now, Roscosmos has announced that it will launch a new Soyuz MS-23 capsule to rescue the trapped crew. However, this compartment will have no crew. It will be released on February 20th.
It also means that the duties of Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio will be extended, but Roscosmos head Yuri Borisov did not specify how long.
It is noteworthy that the long-term plans of Roscosmos and NASA could be affected as Soyuz MS-23 was scheduled to launch in March to carry two Russian cosmonauts and one Russian cosmonaut. WE astronauts into orbit.
Borisov floated the idea of the upcoming Soyuz MS-23 launch, saying that Roscosmos had already explored the new Soyuz launch option with a crew member, but that meant even longer preparation times.
The Soyuz MS-23 will have no crew, but it will be used to transport supplies to the International Space Station.
Considering the dangerous situation the astronauts were in, officials also considered using the disabled Soyuz MS-22 capsule to evacuate the crew, before the new capsule arrived, in the field. emergency on the International Space Station.
Notably, the first indication that something was amiss on Soyuz MS-22 was detected when the Russians were about to step outside the station on a planned spacewalk. In fact, ground experts have seen a stream of liquid and particles leaking from Soyuz on a live video feed from space.
The problem of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft will also be resolved and it will likely be sent back to Earth without a crew.
Not only Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio, there are four other crew members currently on the ISS.
