Russia will send a new capsule next month to return three space station crew members whose initial ride home was damaged, officials said Wednesday.
The two Russians and one American will stay a few extra months on the International Space Station as a result of the capsule change, likely extending their mission to nearly a year, NASA and Russian space officials told reporters.
Cosmonauts Sergei Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin and astronaut Frank Rubio were scheduled to return in March on the same Soyuz capsule that picked them up last September. But that capsule was struck by a tiny meteoroid on December 14, creating a small hole in the outer heatsink and sending coolant flying into space.
Sergei Krikalev, head of human spaceflight at the Russian Space Agency, said that unless an emergency occurred on the space station, it would be too dangerous for the crew to use this capsule to return to Earth.
Although Russian engineers believe the capsule can survive re-entry and land safely, the temperature inside the cabin could reach the low 40s (Celsius) with high humidity because it cannot dissipate heat generated by a computer and other electronics. noted Krikalev, a former cosmonaut.
The new Soyuz capsule will be launched from Kazakhstan on February 20, a month earlier than planned. No one will be on board. The capsule will fly in automatic mode, announced earlier in the day the head of the Russian Space Agency Yuri Borisov.
The original plan was for this new Soyuz to launch in March with two Russians and one American replacing the three already there. This new crew will now have to wait until late summer or fall to fly when another capsule is ready for them.
Ultimately, Russia will return the damaged capsule with only scientific samples on board.
“The crew is currently safe aboard the space station,” said NASA’s Space Station Program Manager Joel Montalbano. “There is no urgent need for the crew to go home today.”
Backup plans are in place, according to Montalbano and Krikalev, in case an emergency forces the space station’s seven occupants to escape before the new Soyuz can be launched — such as a fire or decompression. NASA is considering adding additional crew to the SpaceX capsule currently docked at the station.
Borissov said the analysis confirmed the leak was caused by a micrometeoroid, not spacecraft debris or a manufacturing defect. The resulting opening was about 1 millimeter in size, or less than one-tenth of an inch.
In addition to Prokopiev, Petelin and Rubio, the space station is home to NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada; The Russian Anna Kikina and the Japanese Koichi Wakata. The four boarded a SpaceX capsule last October.
(With information from AP)
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