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Start at the Baikonur Cosmodrome: There were no astronauts on board, but almost half a ton of equipment for the ISS
Photo: Ivan Timoshenko / AP
An unmanned Soyuz capsule has launched to the International Space Station (ISS) to replace a damaged space shuttle.
The Soyuz MS-23 took off from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday.
On board is a 430-kilogram cargo for the crew of the ISS, including medical equipment and equipment for scientific experiments.
The capsule is scheduled to dock with the ISS early Sunday morning.
The unusual mission is necessary because the MS-22 ferry docked at the ISS has a leak – probably caused by a micrometeorite.
The liquid leaking from the cooling system made the return of two Russians and one American risky.
The plan now is that cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who came to the ISS in September with the MS-22, are expected to return to Earth with the MS-23 in the autumn.
Originally, their mission was supposed to end in March.
In the meantime, the damaged capsule MS-22 is to fly back to Earth unmanned.
Astronauts have to stay six months longer
Russia and the USA have been working closely together on the space station around 400 kilometers above the earth for more than 20 years.
However, the relationship is heavily strained because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine exactly a year ago.
However, both countries continue to cooperate in space.
In the middle of the week, Russia announced that the Russian module on the ISS will remain in operation until 2028, which is longer than planned.
In the long term, however, Russia wants to end cooperation on the ISS and build its own space station.
In addition to the astronauts Prokopjew, Petelin and Rubio, Nicole Mann, Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata and Anna Kikina – the so-called “Crew 5” – are currently on board the ISS.
“Crew 6” is also expected next week – the Americans Stephen Bowen, Warren Hoburg, the Russian Andrei Fedjajew and the Emirati Sultan al-Nijadi.
A few days after their arrival in a "Crew Dragon" from Elon Musk's private space company SpaceX, the "Crew-5" is supposed to return to Earth.
koe/dpa/AFP
