Unnecessarily dramatizing a situation was never the thing of the American space agency Nasa. Here’s how Joel Montalbano, NASA manager for the International Space Station (ISS), the return of three stranded ISS astronauts with a specially launched one Soyuzcapsule almost as routine. “We don’t call this a rescueSoyuz” Montalbano said at a news conference. “I call it a spareSoyuz.” It’s just the next one Soyuzcapsule, which will carry two cosmonauts and a US astronaut in March anyway ISS should have brought. Now she flies “just a little earlier” – but without a crew. The new SoyuzCapsule scheduled for delivery on February 20th ISS start.
The “rescue operation” was triggered by a leak in the cooling system Soyuz-Capsule MS-22which cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio will deliver in September 2022 ISS had brought. The leak occurred in mid-December after a micrometeorite about one millimeter in diameter hit the island at a speed of seven kilometers per second Soyuzservice module had crashed – i.e. at around 25,000 kilometers per hour. This had damaged the thermal control system, coolant escaped into space. The leak was not caused by space debris, assured Sergei Krikalyov, director of manned space systems at the Russian agency Roskosmos. This was the result of the investigations by Roskosmos and Nasa.
The stranded astronauts were scheduled to have the defective one at the end of March Soyuzcapsule could have returned to Earth, but the interior could have heated up to 40 degrees Celsius during the at least six-hour flight, as Montalbano explained. “The temperatures in these areas would not be healthy for the crew,” and the main computer could overheat. The defective MS-22 should therefore only be loaded with cargo and land in the Kazakh steppes by the end of March at the latest.
The replacement will probably not come until autumn
Before undocking, the astronauts’ equipment must be brought from the defective capsule to the replacement capsule and installed. This is necessary because space suits, seats and rescue systems are individually adapted to the respective passengers.
The next Soyuz-Trio must now probably by the fall on the start to ISS wait, because so soon no more Soyuz-Capsule is ready for use. The stranded team will probably have to stay longer on the ISS stay, but would have a fully-fledged spaceship available as a shelter or return capsule in case of an emergency. In addition to experiments, the astronauts also have to do a lot of caretaker work on the now 25-year-old ISS perform. Next to the Soyuz NASA launches a crew of four about twice a year with the Crew Dragon from Space-X to ISS, so that there are usually seven astronauts and cosmonauts working there. The next start is planned for spring. Nasa is also in contact with Space-X because of the replacement capsule, but these are two fundamentally different capsule systems.
That the Soyuz-Crew now has to stay up longer is not a problem from the point of view of Nasa and Roskosmos. The crew is in good health and ready for anything “we decide,” said Nasa manager Montalbano. And even had a joke ready for this extraordinary situation: “I may have to fly up some ice cream to reward her.”