Russia launched the Soyuz MS-23 capsule from Kazakhstan on Thursday night on a rescue mission to the International Space Station. The uncrewed spacecraft is a replacement for a broken capsule attached to the International Space Station, and will eventually safely return two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut to Earth.
For now, MS-22 is still attached to the space station, but this capsule was hit by what is called a small meteor in December. Coolant leaked into space from the resulting leak, making the craft unsuitable for the crew’s return to Earth. Russia decided to send a replacement Soyuz, which was launched on Thursday evening.
The capsule should arrive at the International Space Station on Sunday. The spacecraft took off from the Baikonur launch site, carrying 430 kilograms of cargo, such as medical equipment and equipment for scientific experiments.
Because of the defective capsule, the space mission of US Frank Rubio and Russians Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petline has been extended until September, meaning they will spend nearly a year in space. Usually, astronauts stay on the International Space Station for six months.
The damaged Soyuz will return to Earth in late March so engineers can examine it. The MS-23 was extensively checked for manufacturing defects prior to launch, but none were found.
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