Russia expected to send spaceship to ISS in rescue mission to bring back three astronauts

Three astronauts whose planned return spacecraft was harmed by a small meteoroid will be brought back on February 24 by a rescue ship, according to a statement from Russia's space agency on Saturday. "The launch is expected on February 24," a spokesman for the Roscosmos space agency told AFP news agency.

In September, MS-22 launched from the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and carried NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin, and Sergei Prokopyev to the International Space Station. In March, they were supposed to go back to Earth in the same spaceship.

However, in mid-December, MS-22 started leaking coolant after being struck by what US and Russian space experts think was a minor space pebble. The launch was also delayed Monday when concerns were raised about the Progress MS-21, a Russian supply ship stationed at the International Space Station, which had also experienced coolant leakage.

"A decision has been taken to postpone the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft in an unmanned mode until March 2023," the Russian space agency said. "We stress that nothing threatens the life and health of the crew," it added. "Until the cause of the emergency situation is determined, a decision was made to postpone the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft," Roscosmos said.

The launch of the rescue ship should now be scheduled at 03:34 on February 24, according to the Russian space agency's main designers.

Now a state commission has to sign off on the new date. The state commission was anticipated to accept the revised launch date, the Roscosmos official told AFP. The Progress cargo ship will be de-orbited on February 19, according to a second statement from the space agency.

Many issues have plagued Russia's space programme in recent years, resulting in the loss of satellites and other equipment.

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