Russia’s area company mentioned Saturday it was planning to ship a rescue ship on February 24 to deliver dwelling three astronauts whose return automobile was broken by a tiny meteoroid.
“The launch is predicted on February 24,” a spokesman for the Roscosmos area company informed AFP.
Final Monday, the area company mentioned it had delayed the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, saying a provide ship docked on the Worldwide House Station (ISS) had leaked coolant.
The Soyuz MS-22 flew Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the ISS in September.
They have been scheduled to return dwelling in the identical spacecraft, however it began leaking coolant in mid-December after being hit by what US and Russian area officers imagine was a tiny area rock.
In January, Russia said that it might ship an empty spacecraft to the ISS in February to deliver dwelling the three astronauts.
Final Monday, the launch was postponed after one other vessel – a Russian provide ship docked on the ISS, the Progress MS-21 [identified by NASA as Progress 82P] – had additionally leaked coolant, sparking concern.
Earlier on Saturday, the Russian area company mentioned that chief designers had now beneficial that the launch of the rescue ship be set for 03:34 am (00:34 GMT) on February 24.
The Soyuz MS-23 had been fastidiously examined, and no harm had been discovered, the area company mentioned.
Now a state fee has to log off on the brand new date.
The Roscosmos official informed AFP that the state fee was broadly anticipated to approve the brand new launch date.
The Progress provide ship shall be deorbited on February 19, the area company mentioned in a separate assertion.
