Crew stuck on ISS to return to Earth in September after a year in orbit: Russia
- Before the leak, the trio had been due to return to Earth on March 28. Russia plans to send a rescue ship on February 24
- They were scheduled to return in the same spacecraft they left in, but it began leaking coolant in mid-December after being hit by a tiny space rock
Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev and Nasa astronaut Frank Rubio flew to the ISS in September 2022 aboard a Soyuz MS-22 capsule.
Before the leak, the trio had been due to return to Earth on March 28, 2023.
But on Tuesday, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency said in a statement that their return “at the moment is scheduled to take place aboard the Soyuz MS-23 in September 2023”.
The damaged MS-22 spacecraft is planned to land without a crew in March.
Roscosmos said the extended space stay – normally ISS missions last six months – posed no health risks for the crew, adding that they had taken the news of their mission extending “positively”.
In 2021, Russia’s Pyotr Dubrov and the US’ Mark Vande also spent a year on the ISS after their mission was extended, it said.
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On Tuesday, Roscosmos said that particular leak was caused by an “exterior impact”, based on photos and videos that showed holes on the capsule’s exterior, including on the radiator and solar panels.
The ISS was launched in 1998 at a time of increased US-Russia cooperation following the Cold War “Space Race”.
Russia has been using the ageing but reliable Soyuz capsules to ferry astronauts into space since the 1960s.
But in recent years Russia’s space programme has been beset by a litany of problems which have led to the loss of satellites and vehicles.