Roskosmos announced the risks of placing astronauts on Crew Dragon

Roscosmos considered it risky to place Russian cosmonauts of the faulty Soyuz MS-22 on Crew Dragon. This was announced by the executive director for manned programs of Roscosmos Sergey Krikalev. Video published on the YouTube channel of the state corporation.

Krikalev said that NASA offered to help Russian colleagues when an emergency situation arose on the Soyuz MS-22. The specialists of the countries together studied the possibility of placing Russian cosmonauts on the Crew Dragon and calculated the risks.

“The Americans offered to look at the option of returning all crew members on the ship, because it is theoretically possible. But we practically began to look at what this would entail, and this, in fact, is also a rather risky operation, ”said Krikalev.

According to him, the following decision was made: if the evacuation of the Soyuz crew is required, one cosmonaut will transfer to the American ship, while the other two will remain on board the Russian one. At the same time, the likelihood of such a situation is “extremely low,” Krikalev stressed.

December 15, 2022 Roscosmos informed about the pressure drop in the Soyuz MS-22 cooling system due to damage to the spacecraft skin. Later, the state corporation noted that an emergency situation could arise due to a micrometeorite entering the radiator. On February 22, Krikalev clarified that the micrometeorite hit “not just in the radiator, but in the tube on this radiator.”

Despite the damage to the ship, the temperature on board is within normal limits and is not critical, the words of the crew members in Roskosmos were reported. In early February, it became known that Soyuz MS-22 will return to Earth in March without a crew. The cosmonauts will remain on the ISS and return at the end of the expedition aboard the Soyuz MS-23 rescue ship. It was expected that the ship would be sent to the ISS on February 20, but later Roskosmos postponed its launch due to breakdowns “Progress MS-21”.