Sending Rescue Ship to ISS to Replace Damaged Soyuz May Take About One Month, Source Says

In this photo provided by NASA, backdropped against clouds over Earth, the International Space Station is seen from Space Shuttle Discovery as the two orbital spacecraft accomplish their relative separation on March 7, 2011MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russian space agency Roscosmos may need about a month to dispatch a Soyuz rescue spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) to replace the damaged Soyuz MS-22, but a decision has not yet been made on the matter, an informed source told Sputnik on Sunday. On Saturday, Roscosmos said that the preparations for the launch of the next Soyuz manned spacecraft to the ISS could be sped up after a fault was detected in the Soyuz MS-22 cooling system.

"No decision has been made yet regarding the acceleration of preparations to send Soyuz MS-23 to the ISS in connection with the accident at Soyuz MS-22. If such a decision is made, the timeframe for the preparation of the spaceship could be reduced to one month," the source said.

At the moment, there are two spacecraft at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Soyuz MS-23 and Soyuz MS-24, the source clarified. In the meantime, Roscosmos specialists managed to lower the temperature aboard the spacecraft.

"The temperature aboard the manned Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft has been going down thanks to specialists of the Flight Control Center located near Moscow. It is within the required range," Roscosmos said in a statement.

The leak will be inspected using cameras on the Special Multipurpose Dexterous Manipulator, a robotic hand installed on the US space station module, the Russian space agency said.A leak from the cooling system of Soyuz MS-22 occurred on Thursday due to damage to the spacecraft’s outer skin. The cosmonauts reported to ground control that the diagnostic system of Soyuz had been triggered, and also confirmed that they were visually observing the leak. Due to the incident, the spacewalk of Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin had to be canceled. The NASA broadcast showed how fountains of technical liquid were being shot from the Soyuz. © Sputnik / Ramil Sitdikov / Go to the mediabankThe Russian Skif-D satellite, the first orbital spacecraft from the Sfera (Sphere) multi-satellite orbital constellation, was launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome on October 22, using the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket. The Russian Skif-D satellite, the first orbital spacecraft from the Sfera (Sphere) multi-satellite orbital constellation, was launched from the Vostochny cosmodrome on October 22, using the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket. / Go to the mediabankRoscosmos Human Space Flight Programs Executive Director Sergei Krikalev said that a micrometeorite hit may have caused damage to the spacecraft’s outer skin and depressurization of the cooling system. No other changes were found in the telemetry of the spacecraft and the station, he added. Following the incident, the spacecraft began to warm up, with its temperature reaching 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) at one point. On Saturday, Roscosmos reported that the temperature in Soyuz MS-22 was not exceeding 30 degrees Celsius and there was no threat to the crew’s health.

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