Russia to announce its decision on leaky Soyuz in Jan; NASA eyes SpaceX Dragon as option

Russian space agency Roscosmos will announce its final decision on whether to send another Soyuz capsule to replace the faulty one in January 2023, Russia’s state media reported.

The issue is related to the coolant leakage which was detected on December 15 in Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 capsule docked at the International Space Station’s (ISS) Rassvet module. Inspections by flight controllers revealed that the leakage occurred due to a 0.8 mm hole in the spacecraft's cooling system, the reason for which is being suspected is space debris. Roscosmos earlier ruled out the possibility of the MS-22 being struck by a micrometeoroid. 

Meanwhile, the agency officials are mulling whether to send a new MS-23 spacecraft in case its predecessor is not up to the safety standards. "The commission will make organizational decisions about future actions of ground specialists and the crew of the ISS Russian segment, as well as on possible changes in the station’s flight program in January 2023 on the basis of the working group’s findings," Roscosmos said per TASS News. 

Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov, recently said that the agency might send the replacement capsule by February 19 for an early departure of NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin. The trio flew to the ISS in the MS-22 spacecraft on September 21 and were scheduled to ride the same for their return in March of next year. 

NASA considers SpaceX as an option: Report

With the cooling system of the MS-22 damaged, the spacecraft might face the problem of overheating as it is constantly exposed to sunlight during the space station's orbit around Earth. This overheating might in turn damage the capsule's avionics and be hazardous for the astronauts travelling in it. While Roscosmos has planned on launching the MS-23, NASA is looking toward SpaceX to rescue its astronaut. According to a report by Space.com, NASA is considering using SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft as a backup to bring the crew safely back to Earth. 

SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, is currently the world's only private company firm for both cargo and crew transportation to the ISS. The company launched four members of the Expedition 68 crew currently residing in the space station under the Crew-5 mission on October 5, before Rubio's launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.