Russia will launch a first-of-its-kind mission to bring in a alternative spacecraft for astronauts who’ve been stranded in orbit without a lifeboat for nearly a month, space officials said Wednesday.
The country plans to send an empty Soyuz capsule to the International Space Station in February to replace one which was struck by a small meteorite and started leaking coolant in December, Russia’s Roscosmos and NASA reported.
“That is one other Soyuz that was supposed to fly in March. It’s just going to fly a little earlier,” NASA Space Station Manager Joel Montalbano said at a press conference on Wednesday.
The alternative capsule, Soyuz MS-23, will bring Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio back to Earth after it’s launched on February 20. according to space.com.
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The lads have been living without a return ship since the previous spacecraft, Soyuz MS-22, was hit by a space rock and started spewing white liquid on December 14.
Analysts said that without coolant, the capsule could overheat to temperatures in excess of 100 degrees – putting the crew in danger and potentially causing equipment failure.
The scenario is unprecedented, and until a alternative spacecraft arrives, there’s a greater likelihood of an emergency corresponding to a major leak that might force the men to evacuate.
But officials on Wednesday downplayed the threat.
“Let me let you know, the crew doesn’t have to go home immediately because all the systems are working,” Montalbano said. “Soyuz just isn’t suitable for nominal re-entry … but in case of emergency, with added risk, we will use this Soyuz.”
The astronauts were due to return to Earth in March but will now stay on the space station for several more months, space officials said.
The damaged capsule will even be shipped back to Kazakhstan in March.
On December 15, the spacewalk of two Russian cosmonauts was canceled after flight controllers noticed a white liquid leaking from the spacecraft.
Officials later said the hole was attributable to a one millimeter wide meteorite soaring through space at about 15,000 miles per hour.
According to NASA, none of the astronauts have ever been at risk.
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