Calay News
Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has announced that the stay of the three astronauts—two Russian cosmonauts, Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, and a US NASA astronaut, Frank Rubio—who were stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) will be extended from March to September. This decision means that this crew will spend a total of one year aboard the ISS, six months longer than their original mission duration.
The issues began when the three astronauts’ Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which had arrived at the space station in September of last year, experienced a spectacular coolant leak, which was broadcast live while a spacewalk was taking place, and was immediately suspended. The leak lasted for hours, causing the radiator coolant to be emptied, which is used to regulate the temperature inside the crew compartment. The problem was temporarily solved by keeping a hatch open to the ISS, but in that state, it was impossible to return the spacecraft to Earth with a crew on board as originally planned.
The main theory was that the damage was caused by the impact of a micrometeorite. Images released by the Russian space agency a few days ago revealed that the outer covering of the Soyuz MS-22 was altered. “The presence of this hole demonstrates the cause of what happened: external damage,” said Yuri Borisov, head of Roscosmos, a few days ago.
While the causes were being investigated, a rescue plan was also put in place for the three stranded astronauts. Various options were considered, but it was ultimately decided that another spacecraft, the Soyuz MS-23, would be launched empty towards the ISS. The spacecraft will depart from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on February 24th and arrive at the space station two days later. With this, the problem of evacuating the ISS is resolved. Until now, if the station crew had to leave the facilities, there were only four seats available on the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, which was insufficient for the seven astronauts currently there.
