Russia to launch mission to rescue stranded ISS crew after meteoroid strike - The Guardian

Moscow volition motorboat a rescue vas to the International Space Station adjacent period to bring location 3 unit members who are successful effect stuck successful orbit aft their archetypal capsule was deed by a meteoroid.

The docked Soyuz MS-22 sprang a large leak past month, spraying radiator coolant into abstraction and prompting a brace of cosmonauts to abort a planned spacewalk.

While Russia’s abstraction agency, Roscosmos, said the onslaught caused nary contiguous menace to the unit of the abstraction station, it raised concerns astir whether everyone connected the orbital outpost could instrumentality to Earth successful an exigency situation.

With the leak resulting successful higher compartment temperatures, the MS-22 was deemed unfit, leaving lone 1 operational “escape pod” docked connected the ISS – a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. There are 7 radical onboard the abstraction station, but the SpaceX capsule has lone 4 seats.

After deliberations, Roscosmos said it has decided to bring guardant a planned March motorboat of the Soyuz MS-23 to 20 February truthful it tin beryllium utilized to transport the Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and the US astronaut Francisco Rubio backmost to Earth.

If a “particularly critical” concern arose connected the ISS successful the weeks earlier then, Roscosmos said, the anticipation of utilizing the damaged Soyuz MS-22 to rescue the unit would beryllium considered.

MS-23 was initially planned to instrumentality up 3 unit members but volition caput up bare arsenic a rescue vessel. The Roscosmos chief, Yuri Borisov, did not accidental erstwhile Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio would instrumentality to Earth successful the backup Soyuz.

The damaged MS-22 volition instrumentality without a unit erstwhile its replacement arrives, Roscosmos added.

Micrometeoroids, people occurring pieces of stone oregon metallic that tin beryllium arsenic tiny arsenic a atom of sand, airs a important information to quality spaceflight. They hurl astir the Earth astatine astir 17,000mph (27,400km/h) – overmuch faster than the velocity of a bullet.

Roscosmos said the diameter of the micrometeoroid that deed the docked Soyuz was tiny, creating a spread successful the capsule that was lone 1mm successful diameter. It caused important damage, with Nasa TV images showing achromatic particles resembling snowflakes streaming retired of the rear.

Human-made “space junk” tin besides harm equipment. In 2021, Russia blew up 1 of its ain satellites successful a rocket trial that created clouds of zooming shrapnel.

Space has remained a uncommon country of practice betwixt Moscow and Washington since Russia invaded Ukraine.

The ISS was launched successful stages opening successful 1998 astatine a clip of accrued US-Russia practice astir a decennary aft the extremity of the acold war. The ageing abstraction presumption is destined to beryllium “de-orbited” successful 2031, with a planned descent into a distant constituent successful the Pacific.

Meanwhile, a caller abstraction contention betwixt the US and China is heating up. In 2021, Beijing’s abstraction programme established its archetypal Earth-orbiting crewed abstraction station. The 70-tonne Tiangong, meaning “heavenly palace”, is expected to run for astatine slightest 10 years.