The Soyuz rocket was launched last night from Baikonur, the largest rocket launch site in the world. The launch was followed live on video from NASA. Despite the Ukrainian war, the Russians and Americans still work together when it comes to space travel.
Back only in September
The capsule should be at the International Space Station in two days. The launch went well. The return journey with astronauts will probably not follow until September. Then the American Frank Rubio and Russians Sergei Prokopjev and Dmitri Petelin return to Earth.
Watch the launch here:
In fact, the three should have returned to Earth in a few weeks. They arrived at the ISS in September and were supposed to stay on board for six months, but that will now be a year.
That’s because something went wrong late last year: their Russian Soyuz spacecraft attached to the ISS started leaking coolant.
The American space agency NASA immediately emphasized that everyone on board the ISS was safe, although a spacewalk had to be canceled at the last minute. The capsule was probably hit by a tiny meteor shower, which caused the leak.
Through atmosphere
For weeks, it was investigated on Earth what the consequences are for the return journey with the Russian spacecraft. In the end it was decided that it is not safe to return to the atmosphere with the broken capsule. During the fall, the capsule will be exposed to extremely high temperatures and it may become too hot inside for everyone on board.
The broken capsule will be returned to Earth next month without a crew. The Russians will then investigate the damage.
