Russia launched a rescue spaceship on February 24, 2023, which is heading to the International Space station. (ISS). It will pick up two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut stranded at the ISS due to a leak in their original Soyuz capsule.
A micrometeorite puncture caused the leak in an external radiator that drained the coolant from the now inoperable Russian spaceship.
The damaged Soyuz capsule was carrying NASA’s Frank Rubio and Russia’s Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin. Officials determined that it was too risky to bring them back in the damaged Soyuz next month, as initially planned.
The cabin temperature would spike during the trip back to Earth, potentially damaging computers and other equipment and exposing the suited-up crew to excessive heat.
The same thing happened on a docked Russian cargo ship earlier this month.
The urgent need for a replacement Soyuz capsule led to the launch of an empty Soyuz MS-23 capsule that is set to arrive at the orbiting lab on Sunday.
The new Soyuz capsule was launched from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur cosmodrome and carried bundles of supplies strapped into the three seats.
