Russian Soyuz spacecraft starts mission
to return crew stranded on ISS
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[February 24, 2023]
(Reuters) - A Russian Soyuz spacecraft blasted off on Friday on a
mission to bring back to Earth a crew stranded on the International
Space Station (ISS) by a leak in the cooling system of their original
return capsule, Russian news agencies reported. |
The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft blasts off from
the launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan February 24, 2023,
in this still image taken from video. Roscosmos/Handout via REUTERS |
Tass news agency said the unmanned Soyuz MS-23 lifted off from
Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan and had been placed in
orbit. It was due to dock with the ISS on Saturday at 0101 GMT.
Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and U.S.
astronaut Francisco Rubio had been due to end their mission in
March. They were left stuck in space after the cooling system of
their Soyuz MS-22 capsule started leaking two months ago.
Russian space agency Roscosmos said this week the trio would now
return to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-23 in September. The damaged
MS-22 spacecraft is now scheduled to land without a crew in
March.
Both NASA and Roscosmos believe last year's leak on the MS-22
spacecraft was caused by a micrometeoroid - a tiny particle of
space rock - hitting the capsule at high velocity.
A similar impact is also believed to have caused a separate leak
this month on the cooling system of the Progress MS-21 cargo
ship, taken out of orbit last week.
Tass said 430 kilogrammes (about 950 pounds) of cargo was sent
aboard the replacement craft, including medical equipment,
scientfic instruments, water, food and cleaning supplies. Tass
quoted a Russian space official as saying the amount of food
sent was three times the amount normally dispatched for such
missions.
The leaks have prompted Roscosmos and NASA to rearrange their
schedules and postpone planned space walks.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
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