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Soyuz capsule of the ISS (archive)
Photo: Sergei Korsakov / dpa
Because of the technical problems at the International Space Station (ISS), Russia is considering launching a "rescue spaceship" for its cosmonauts.
The damage that may have been caused by a mini-meteorite is currently being checked, said the head of the Russian program for manned space flight, Sergei Krikalev.
The start of the next Soyuz spacecraft, which was actually not planned until mid-March, may have to be brought forward in order to bring the cosmonauts safely to earth.
A leak was discovered last week on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft currently docked with the ISS.
Images from the US space agency Nasa showed how large quantities of white particles – apparently the coolant – escaped from the spacecraft like snow.
The leak may have been caused by the impact of a mini-meteorite.
On September 21, the two Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopjew and Dmitri Petelin flew with MS-22 to the ISS together with the US astronaut Frank Rubio.
They were supposed to return to Earth in the same spacecraft after completing their mission in March.
But now the leak may stand in the way of these plans.
When checking the damage, the main thing to be determined is how hot it could get in MS-22, Krikalev said at a press conference organized by NASA.
If MS-22 cannot be used for a manned return flight, another Soyuz spacecraft will be sent into space earlier than planned and without a crew to retrieve the affected cosmonauts.
MS-22, for its part, would return to Earth unmanned in this case.
There are currently four other astronauts on board the ISS: Russian Anna Kikina, US astronaut Nicole Mann and her compatriot Josh Cassada, and Japanese Koichi Wakata.
They flew into space in October aboard a space capsule belonging to the US space company SpaceX owned by multi-billionaire Elon Musk.
Cooperation between Russia and the USA on the ISS is one of the few cooperations between the two countries that did not end after the start of the Ukraine war.
phw/AFP
