Russia launched a rescue ship on Friday for two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut whose original trip home sprang a harmful leakage while parked at the International Space Station.The brand-new, empty Soyuz pill ought to come to the orbiting laboratory on Sunday, The Associated Press reported.The capsule leakage in December was blamed on a micrometeorite that punctured an external radiator, draining it of coolant.
The very same thing appeared to take place again previously this month, this time on a docked Russian freight ship.
Camera views revealed a small hole in each spacecraft.The Russian Space Agency postponed the launch of the replacement Soyuz, searching for any manufacturing defects.
No issues were found, and the company proceeded with Friday&& 's predawn launch from Kazakhstan of the capsule with packages of products strapped into the 3 seats.Given the urgent requirement for this pill, 2 top NASA authorities traveled from the United States to observe the launch face to face.
To everybody&& 's relief, the pill safely reached orbit 9 minutes after liftoff — &-- & a perfect ride to orbit,& & NASA Mission Control&& 's Rob Navias reported from Houston.Officials had identified it was too risky to bring NASA&& 's Frank Rubio and Russia & 's Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin back in their harmed Soyuz next month as initially planned.
Without any coolant, the cabin temperature level would increase during the trip back to Earth, potentially destructive computers and other devices, and exposing the suited-up crew to extreme heat.Until the brand-new Soyuz brings up, emergency situation plans require Rubio to switch to a SpaceX team pill that&& 's docked at the space station.
Prokopyev and Petelin remain appointed to their damaged Soyuz in the not likely need for a quick vacation.
Having one less individual on board would keep the temperature down to a hopefully manageable level, Russian engineers concluded.The harmed Soyuz will go back to Earth without any one aboard by the end of March, so engineers can examine it.The 3 males released in this Soyuz last September on what should have been a six-month mission.
They&& 'll now remain in area for a complete year, until a brand-new pill is ready for their team replacements for liftoff in September.
It was their Soyuz that simply released without any one on board.&& The Russians are continuing to take a really close look& & at both spacecraft leaks, NASA&& 's deputy space station program supervisor Dana Weigel told reporters previously today.
&& They & 're looking at everything & hellip; to attempt to understand that.&& NASA has a fresh team of 4 launching atop a SpaceX rocket early Monday morning from Florida&& 's Kennedy Space.
SpaceX&& 's William Gerstenmaier said the four astronauts returning to Earth in a couple of weeks currently have examined the Dragon capsule that will carry them house and && all of it had a look at fine.&& The post Russia introduces rescue ship to spaceport station after leaks initially appeared on Ariana News.