The crew of the Soyuz MS-22 will leave the ISS in the event of an emergency on Russian and American ships

Roskosmos reported on Saturday that in the event of an accident on the ISS before the arrival of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, the crew of the damaged Soyuz MS-22 will leave the station on the Russian Soyuz and the American Crew Dragon.

The press service of the state corporation reported that the Soyuz MS-22 crew – Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Francisco Rubio – will return to Earth on the Soyuz MS-23 due to an emergency situation with the ship, which is due to dock with the ISS on February 22 in unmanned mode.

Now the systems of the ISS and Soyuz MS-22 are operating normally, but in the event that an accident occurs before the arrival of the Soyuz MS-23, “the crew will need an emergency evacuation to Earth,” the corporation explained.

According to Roscosmos, it was decided to temporarily move the chair of Francisco Rubio to the Crew Dragon spacecraft – work is scheduled for January 17-18.

If an emergency evacuation is needed, Rubio will return to Earth on an American ship, and the Roscosmos cosmonauts on the Soyuz MS-22.

Roskosmos also noted that the descent of two cosmonauts instead of three would be safer for the ship, since temperature and humidity would be reduced in the Soyuz MS-22.

It is also reported that after arriving at the Soyuz MS-23 station, the chairs of all three astronauts, including Rubio, will be moved to it.

It is noted that measures to ensure the safe return of the ISS crew to Earth in the event of an accident before the arrival of the Soyuz MS-23 were taken by Roscosmos together with the space agencies of the partner countries on the station.

In December, Roskosmos announced the cancellation of the spacewalk of Russian cosmonauts due to depressurization of the outer radiator circuit of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the ISS.

On January 11, the head of Roskosmos, Yuri Borisov, said that the conclusion of specialists about the damage to the instrument compartment of the Soyuz MS-22 by a meteoroid was confirmed by the results of research.