The damaged Soyuz MS-22 undocked from the ISS and returns to Earth without a crew

The damaged Soyuz MS-22 undocked from the ISS and returns to Earth without a crew

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The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft with a damaged radiator undocked from the International Space Station at 12:57 Moscow time. It will unmannedly descend to Earth at approximately 14:45 Moscow time on the territory of Kazakhstan, the press service reported. “Roskosmos” in the description of the landing broadcast. On December 15, 2022, a depressurization of the cooling system occurred on the ship.

It is expected that the device will enter the atmosphere at 14:22 Moscow time, and the landing will take place 147 km southeast of the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan. The ship will return 218 kg of cargo to Earth, including the results of scientific experiments and station equipment for analysis or reuse, Roscosmos said in a statement.

Soyuz MS-22 launched from Baikonur in September 2022. It delivered into orbit the Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin, as well as the American astronaut Frank Rubio. It was supposed that his expedition would last until March 2023, but in December the ship suffered a depressurization of the external circuit of the cooling system, presumably due to a sporadic meteoroid impact.

The crew of the damaged ship will return on the Soyuz MS-23 and will stay in orbit for a total of at least 370 days. This will be a new record for the ISS. The astronauts are scheduled to return in September this year.

Erdni Kagaltynov

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