As of: 03/28/2023 4:02 p.m
The Russian Soyuz MS-22 was manned for the ISS in September and should also bring the crew back. Then it got damaged. Now she has landed on earth – but without the astronauts.
The damaged Russian spacecraft Soyuz MS-22 has returned safely to Earth. The unmanned capsule landed on Tuesday afternoon (local time) 147 kilometers southeast of Scheskasgan in the Kazakh steppe, the Russian space agency said.
Soyuz MS-22 was launched in September with the Russians Dmitri Petelin and Sergei Prokopjew and the American Frank Rubio to the International Space Station ISS and was supposed to bring them back to Earth in March. However, in December, a leak was discovered through which coolant was leaking. According to Russian information, a small meteorite had damaged the cooling system.
Replacement spaceship arrived for retrieval
Due to the risk that it could get excessively hot for the spacecraft crew and that computers and devices could also be damaged without cooling, those responsible decided to send a replacement spacecraft in February.
This started without a crew, has now arrived and is now scheduled to bring Petelin, Prokopjev and Rubio back to earth in September. The Americans Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, the Russian Andrei Fedjajew and Sultan al-Nejadi from the United Arab Emirates are also on the ISS.
Cooperation on the ISS is one of the few remaining areas where the US and Russia are still cooperating, even after the Russian offensive into Ukraine began more than a year ago.
Soyuz MS-22 landed unmanned in Kazakhstan
Frank Aischmann, ARD Moscow, March 28, 2023 4:42 p.m