Russia sends rescue ship into space after astronaut crew stranded by leak in spacecraft

Russia on Friday launched an unmanned rescue ship for a NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts who were stranded in space after their spacecraft sprung a leak on the spaceside at the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin were scheduled to return to Earth in March on their Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, but had to settle for an extended stay after the spacecraft developed a leak in December 2022.

The new, empty replacement capsule Soyuz MS-23 will rescue the trio that was on board the International Space Station. The Soyuz is expected to arrive at the orbiting laboratory on Sunday.

The rescue plan was unveiled last month when NASA and Russian space officials said the Soyuz capsule would be sent to the International Space Station to transport the trio back.

In preparation for the new Soyuz launch, the Russian space agency delayed the launch and checked for manufacturing defects, but found no problems. The replacement Soyuz was launched at dawn on Friday with supply bundles from Kazakhstan.

Two high-ranking NASA employees also traveled from the USA to observe the launch in person.

To everyone's relief, the Soyuz capsule safely reached orbit nine minutes after launch – “a perfect ride into orbit,” reported Rob Navias of NASA Mission Control in Houston.

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Damage caused by micrometeoroid impact

The Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which carried Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin to the station in September 2022, sprung a leak on December 14.

Coolant from an external cooling circuit and radiator of the spacecraft leaked into space for hours as Prokopyev and Petelin were preparing for a spacewalk. Out of an abundance of caution to avoid any contact with the leaking substance, the spacewalk was canceled.

After a joint investigation by NASA and the Russian space company Roscosmos, the space agencies are convinced that the damage was caused by the impact of a micrometeoroid, which left a hole about one millimeter in diameter in the coolant circuit.

Although the leak was determined to pose no immediate threat to the station or crew, the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft was unable to return the trio of astronauts safely home.

Because of the damaged coolant circuit, the temperature and humidity in the cabin could skyrocket during the return flight to Earth. Therefore, it would have been too risky to bring the trio back in their damaged Soyuz as originally planned in March.

Emergency escape plans

While Rubio waits for the new Soyuz capsule, a contingency plan is in place to transfer him to a SpaceX crew capsule docked at the space station. Prokopyev and Petelin will remain assigned to their damaged Soyuz in case a quick escape is necessary.

The Russian engineers had concluded that one less person on board would hopefully keep the temperature at a tolerable level.

What about the damaged Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft?

Engineers will examine the damaged Soyuz when it returns to Earth without a crew in late March. They are also investigating a similar problem that occurred with a docked Russian cargo ship in early February.

“The Russians continue to monitor the two spacecraft leaks very closely,” Dana Weigel, NASA's deputy program manager for the space station, told reporters earlier this week. “They're looking at everything … to try to understand this.”

The damaged supply ship was full of garbage, which broke off over the weekend and burned up in the atmosphere as planned.

Contributor: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Russia launches Soyuz MS-23 capsule to rescue stranded astronauts