An uncrewed Russian spacecraft launched from Kazakhstan early Friday local time, serving as a lifeboat for three astronauts currently on board the International Space Station that will allow them to return to Earth safely after a delayed homecoming.
(Bloomberg) — An uncrewed Russian spacecraft launched from Kazakhstan early Friday local time, serving as a lifeboat for three astronauts currently on board the International Space Station that will allow them to return to Earth safely after a delayed homecoming.
The trio, NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, flew to the station in September and were slated to come back this spring before their return ship was damaged. The incoming Russian Soyuz craft will bring them back to Earth possibly in September of this year.
This new craft, which launched at 6:24 a.m. local time from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, will effectively replace another Soyuz currently docked to the space station that suffered a coolant leak in December. NASA and Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos decided to extend the crew’s stay after the leak and perform the Soyuz swap.
NASA and Roscosmos both say the damaged Soyuz has performed well since the incident; however, the two were concerned about the possibility of the capsule overheating if the astronauts returned in it. The entities plan to bring the damaged Soyuz back to Earth empty in March.
The coolant leak was discovered as Prokopyev and Petelin were preparing to conduct a spacewalk on the outside of the ISS. Before they left the station, flight controllers noticed that the Soyuz capsule docked on the ISS was spewing liquid coolant particles. The spacewalk was ultimately called off as NASA and Roscosmos sought to better understand the situation.
After conducting inspections of the damage and performing tests on the ground, Roscosmos determined that the cause of the coolant leak likely stemmed from a micrometeoroid impact. However, questions about the cause of the leak arose on Feb. 11, when another Russian spacecraft, a Progress cargo ship, depressurized while docked to the International Space Station. Roscosmos found that the Progress had also suffered a coolant leak. The Progress and Soyuz, nearly identical vessels made by the same manufacturer, had damage in roughly the same areas, according to photos released by Roscosmos.
Despite these similarities, Roscosmos said the Progress leak was also caused by an “external impact,” according to a translation of the statement. That could possibly be from a micrometeoroid or some kind of orbital debris. Roscosmos added that RSC Energia, which manufactures the spacecraft, analyzed the history of “notes and comments” on the vehicles’ cooling system over the last 15 years and ruled out any manufacturing defects.
Roscosmos undocked the damaged Progress spacecraft from the space station in February, while taking detailed photos and videos during the process.
The new Soyuz is slated to dock with the ISS in roughly two days. Roscosmos plans to move some equipment from the damaged Soyuz to the new one before the crew returns home later this year. A new crew of four is set to launch to the ISS on a SpaceX Dragon capsule early Monday morning from Florida.
(Updates from first paragraph to reflect spacecraft has launched.)
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