This is n’t how anyone want to screen the body ’s responses to recollective periods in microgravity , but problem with the Soyuz MS-22 rocket have left three the great unwashed run aground aboard the International Space Station ( ISS ) , and bringing them home wo n’t be quick .
Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and astronaut Francisco Rubio arrived in September 2022 and were initially intended to regress to Earth in March . A December leakin the cooling system of their return vehicle Soyuz MS-22 defer a spacewalk and guaranteed a time lag of unknown length . Now the Russian place authority Roscosmos has announced they will not be coming home until September .
Space experts andformer astronautshave been predict forfurther investigationbefore those aboard the ISS are brought home . However , the Roscosmosannouncementindicates it is the recurrence , not the launch , of the rescue fomite Soyuz MS-23 that will be delay . Indeed the MS-23 has beentransported to its launch complexin Baikonur and is expect to plunge this Friday , February 24 .
The determination to stick with the February launch date is a result of Roscosmos concluding the coolant news leak was due to a Geminid meteor , not a plan fault . However , the MS-23 will remain attached to the ISS for six calendar month before bringing those on board dwelling , the likeliness of a repetition micrometeoroid rap having been assess as small .
" quad mission always conduct a Brobdingnagian risk of life - threatening emergency for astronauts , " Roscosmos said in a statement . " micrometeorite impacts on a spacecraft or orbital station have go on before , but unlike with the Soyuz MS-22 , they have never had such serious consequences . " NASA has reportedly indicate its accord with the judgement .
" No country in the world has a surveillance organization equal to of tracking micrometeoroids of this size - about 1 millimeter ( 0.04 inches ) ” the assertion continued . This is true , but fails to explain the coincidence of another outflow on a Russian spacecraft , theProgress 82 .
Because Progress MS-82 was for uncrewed cargo , it was still capable to do a utile function , contain wastefulness from the place to be safelydumped in the Pacific Oceanon Saturday . It ’s mission was stay for just 24 hours while Roscosmos look into the coolant leak disclose the calendar week before .
Human being are substantially more sensitive to overheating than trash , and ( hopefully ) appraise more extremely , so no such danger will be taken with Prokopyev , Petelin and Rubio ’s return .
The ISS is well stocked for events such as these . In 2021 , Russia ’s Pyotr Dubrov and the US ’s Mark Vande Hei had their six - calendar month ISS missions lead when they were asked to give up their fanny home admit for aRussian motion-picture show crewto leave instead . Vande Hei went on to stop thelongest NASA spacefaring record , beating Scott Kelly ’s track record of 340 continuous Clarence Day by 15 twenty-four hour period .
The record for the long blank flight of stairs is guard by Valeri Polyakov at 437 daytime . If the current plan is implemented , Prokopyev , Petelin and Rubio will be month short of that . However , having just had their destine prison term in space double , the ternion may marvel if they can swear on the latest program , or if they will become datapoints for the human capacitance toreach Mars in good health .
