Russia is examining the flight-worthiness of a Soyuz capsule docked at the International Space Station (ISS) that sprang a leak last week to determine whether to send a different vessel to bring back crew members, officials say. Sergei Krikalev, who leads human spaceflight programs at Roskosmos, told a press briefing on December 22 that the damage to the vehicle, known as MS-22, was being assessed. If a thermal analysis of temperatures inside the cabin concludes MS-22 is unfit for crewed flight, then a scheduled launch of another Soyuz capsule in mid-March could be moved up, he said.
Russia Assessing Damaged Soyuz Capsule At ISS, Might Send Other Spaceship To Bring Back Crew
Engineers prepare a Soyuz-2.1 booster rocket with the Soyuz MS-22 spaceship that will carry new crew to the International Space Station for launch at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in September.