MOSCOW, Russia — On Wednesday, officials confirmed that Russia would launch a new capsule next month to bring three space station crew members back home. Their original flight home was damaged so they couldn’t get home in the original capsule.
NASA and Russia space officials told reporters that the two Russians and one American would stay at the International Space Station for many months longer due to the capsule swap, perhaps extending their mission to nearly a year.
The cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin, and astronaut Frank Rubio were scheduled to return to Earth in March aboard the same Soyuz capsule that launched them in September. However, on December 14, a tiny meteoroid struck the capsule, causing a small breach in the outside radiator and sending coolant into space.
According to Sergei Krikalev, the Russian Space Agency’s head of human spaceflight, it would be too difficult for the crew to use that capsule to return to Earth unless there was an emergency at the space station.
Officials Say Capsule Will Land Safely
Even though Russian experts think the capsule will survive reentry and land safely, retired cosmonaut Krikalev says that heat from a computer and other electronics could raise the temperature to the low 40s Celsius (nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit).
The Soyuz capsule will be launched from Kazakhstan on February 20, a month ahead of schedule. The capsule will fly in automated mode with no one on board, Russian Space Agency chief Yuri Borisov confirmed earlier in the day. The initial plan was to launch the Soyuz in March, with two Russians and one American replacing the three already on board. This next crew will now have to wait until late summer or fall for another capsule to be ready for them to fly.
Damaged Capsule Will Return
Russia will eventually bring back the damaged capsule, which will only include scientific materials.
NASA participated in all negotiations and approved the plan.
“Right now, the crew on board the space station is safe,” NASA’s space station program manager Joel Montalbano stated. “There is no pressing need for the workers to return home today.”
According to Montalbano and Krikalev, backup measures are in the works in case an emergency compels the seven space station residents to escape before the new Soyuz can be launched, such as a fire or decompression. NASA is considering adding more people to the SpaceX capsule currently parked at the station.
Neither Krikalev nor Montalbano could think of a time when they had to launch a replacement spacecraft quickly.
Borisov stated that a micrometeoroid caused the leak; the resulting hole was about one millimeter in diameter or one-tenth of an inch.
Ice Cream Rewards
Montalbano stated that the three crew members were unfazed by the news.
He told reporters, “I may have to locate some more ice cream to reward them” for future cargo delivery.
In addition to Prokopyev, Petelin, and Rubio, NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Russian Anna Kikina, and Japanese Koichi Wakata live on the space station. Last October, the four boarded a SpaceX capsule.
SOURCE – (AP)
