The Russian space agency said on Tuesday that the crew stranded on the International Space Station due to a damaged capsule are now expected to return to Earth in September, a year after they first launched into orbit. Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio flew to the ISS in September 2022 aboard the Soyuz MS-22 capsule.
They were due to return home in the same spacecraft, but in mid-December it began leaking coolant after being struck by what US and Russian space officials believe was a small space rock. Russia plans to send a rescue ship, the Soyuz MS-23, on February 24.
Before escaping, the trio was due to return to Earth on March 28, 2023. But on Tuesday, Russia’s Roskosmos space agency said in a statement that their return “is currently planned aboard Soyuz MS-23 in September 2023.”
Roscosmos said the extended stay in space – ISS missions typically last six months – posed no health risks to the crew, adding that they received the news of their mission extension “positively”.
Soyuz Rescue Capsule
In 2021, Russian Pyotr Dubrov and American Mark Vande also spent a year on the ISS after their mission was extended. The launch of the Soyuz rescue capsule itself was delayed earlier this month after another craft – a Russian supply ship docked to the ISS, Progress MS-21 – also leaked coolant, raising concerns.
On Tuesday, Roskosmos said the specific leak was caused by an “external impact” based on photos and videos that showed holes in the capsule’s exterior, including the radiator and solar panels. Space remains a rare site of cooperation between Moscow and Washington since the start of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions against Russia.
The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of increased US-Russian cooperation following the Cold War “space race”. Russia has been using aging but reliable Soyuz capsules to carry astronauts into space since the 1960s. But in recent years, Russia’s space program has been plagued by a series of problems that have led to the loss of satellites and vehicles.
