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Russia Set to Launch Rescue Mission for Stranded ISS Crew After Leak

A rocket will be sent to retrieve an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts, Roscosmos said.

Russia will launch a rescue mission to the International Space Station in February to retrieve crew members who have been left essentially stranded after their capsule sprang a major leak last month, Moscow’s space agency announced Wednesday. The alarming situation began when the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the ISS was hit by a meteorite, Roscosmos said, causing its coolant fluid to spray out into space and temperatures inside the capsule to rise. The damaged capsule was supposed to bring three of the seven crew members currently onboard the space station back to Earth in March, but it’s now been decided that it will descend without a crew. Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut will instead board Soyuz MS-23, which had originally been planned for launch in March. “The expedition of Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Francisco Rubio to the ISS is being extended. They will return to Earth on Soyuz MS-23,” Roscosmos said. “The launch of the Soyuz MS-23 will be on Feb. 20, 2023 in an unmanned mode,” the agency added.