A Soyuz spacecraft that suffered a severe coolant leak in December left the International Space Station early Tuesday (March 28) without a crew to return to Earth for experts to investigate.
The leaking Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft lifted out from its landing pad on the Russian-built Rassvet segment of the International Space Station (ISS) at 5:57 a.m. EDT, a first for Russia’s Roscosmos space agency (0957 GMT). The Soyuz will land in Kazakhstan’s steppes around 7:46 a.m. EDT (1146 GMT), roughly 91 miles southeast of Dzhezkazgan, but NASA will not broadcast the touchdown live. Roscosmos did live-stream it on YouTube.
The Soyuz Return Video Is Available On YouTube
“It is de-orbiting and descend to Earth proceeded well,” Roscosmos officials said after landing on Telegram. After landing, photographs show the spacecraft falling beneath its parachute and resting on its side.
The uncrewed MS-22 capsule exited orbit 55 minutes after leaving the ship, far faster than the customary 2.5 hours, according to NASA spokesperson Rob Navias. He also mentioned that the spacecraft used a longer departure burn than usual to depart the International Space Station. Roscosmos flew the MS-22 Soyuz spacecraft in September 2022, carrying Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin, and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio on a six-month trip to the International Space Station.
Nevertheless, on December 14, about midway through the voyage, the Soyuz spacecraft sprung an uncontrolled leak, releasing its vital coolant into space. Roscosmos engineers have attributed the leak to space debris hit, despite the fact that they are investigating a similar leak on a separate unmanned Progress cargo ship in early February.
