Russian spacecraft launched to rescue stranded cosmonauts

The Soyuz rocket was launched last night from Baikonur, the world’s largest rocket launch site. The launch was followed live on NASA video. Despite the war in Ukraine, 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 trip with the astronauts will probably not follow until September. Then the American Frank Rubio and the 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 it 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 US space agency NASA immediately stressed that everyone aboard the ISS was safe, although a spacewalk had to be canceled at the last minute. The capsule was likely hit by a tiny meteor shower, which caused the leak.

Through the atmosphere

For weeks, the consequences for the return trip with the Russian spacecraft have been investigated on Earth. In the end, it was decided that it was 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.