Russia “hoping” to launch spacecraft on Ukraine war anniversary: ​​report

Moscow:

Russia’s space agency said on Saturday it was planning to send a rescue ship on February 24 to bring home three astronauts whose return vehicle was damaged by a small meteorite.

“The launch is expected on February 24,” a spokesman for the Roscosmos space agency told AFP.

Last Monday, the space agency said it had delayed the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft, saying a supply ship aboard the International Space Station (ISS) had leaked coolant.

Soyuz MS-22 flew Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the ISS in September.

They were scheduled to return home in the same spacecraft, but US and Russian space officials believe it was a small space rock that caused a coolant leak in mid-December.

In January, Russia said it would send an empty spacecraft to the ISS in February to bring the three astronauts home.

Last Monday the launch was postponed because another vessel – Progress MS-21, a Russian supply ship docked at the ISS – also leaked coolant, raising concerns.

Earlier on Saturday, the Russian space agency said chief designers have now recommended that the rescue ship’s launch be scheduled for 03:34 am (00:34 GMT) on February 24.

The space agency said Soyuz MS-23 was carefully examined and no damage was found.

Now a state commission has to sign off on the new date.

The Roscosmos official told AFP that the state commission was widely expected to approve the new launch date.

The Progress supply ship will be de-orbited on February 19, the space agency said in a separate statement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)