Meanwhile, an astronaut and two cosmonauts wait for a return ride to Earth:
[...] The disposal follows a depressurization alert onboard the spacecraft on Feb. 11, making it the second Russian spacecraft to spring a leak at the space station over the past two months. A Soyuz capsule for carrying humans also suffered a similar coolant leak in December 2022, leaving three crew members without a lifeboat.
Following Roscosmos' in-space inspection of the cargo ship and before it broke up over the ocean, the agency said external damage — not a manufacturing defect — caused the leak. The Russian space agency plans to launch a new empty passenger spaceship Thursday, Feb. 24, giving the three marooned crew a fresh return ride home. The new Soyuz MS-23 is expected to dock at the space station this weekend. But because of the shuffle in spacecraft, the astronaut and two cosmonauts won't come home until September, extending their time in space by six months. NASA officials said they are reviewing photos and data related to the leaks "in parallel" with their Russian counterparts.
After an investigation into the first leak, Russian and U.S. space officials believed a micrometeoroid smaller than a sharpened pencil tip had caused the puncture. The coolant seeping into space then, caught on live video, was intended to keep the cabin at a comfortable temperature.
"The entire NASA and Roscosmos team have continued to work together to investigate the cause of this situation, and we will continue to do so," said Jeff Arend, manager of NASA's space station engineering office, during a news conference Friday. "We'll know more in the coming days."
Roscosmos investigated a coolant leak onboard a spacecraft that was intended to send an astronaut and two cosmonauts home in March 2023.
Both agencies previously determined the leaky crew capsule would be unfit to bring three men home, at risk of overheating. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, who arrived at the space station in September , were supposed to be at the Earth-orbiting laboratory for only six months, with a return trip set for this March.
Despite the Russia-Ukraine war and geopolitical tensions between Russia and the United States, the two nations' space agencies have continued to work collaboratively at the space station.
(Score: 3, Funny) by mhajicek on Saturday February 25, @04:06PM (2 children)
"Andre, you've lost another spacecraft?"
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Funny) by Gaaark on Saturday February 25, @04:11PM (1 child)
--is that like "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but *actually* from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint - it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff."?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Funny) by mhajicek on Saturday February 25, @05:03PM
You're not wrong.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 5, Funny) by Gaaark on Saturday February 25, @04:08PM (1 child)
"Micrometeoroid? Pffft... i blame the Ukrainian Nazi's."
--Putin, riding a horse, shirtless; for some reason.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by turgid on Sunday February 26, @07:12PM
They hit it with a bow and arrow.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].