Russia to launch Soyuz substitute to the house station on Thursday

As of final week, it was unclear when the substitute can be launched after a second Russian spacecraft, one used to move cargo solely and never individuals, suffered related harm. The Russian house company has been making an attempt to determine what brought on the leaks, however has decided that the Soyuz substitute car was good to fly.

In a name with reporters Tuesday night, Dana Weigel, NASA’s deputy supervisor of the Worldwide Area Station program, mentioned Russia has “taken a take a look at the upcoming Soyuz that’s slated to launch they usually’re not seeing any points with the car, so that they’re urgent forward with their launch preparations.”

She added that NASA has been in contact with their Russian counterparts because the they examine the reason for the issues.

“What they’re actually making an attempt to know is, are there any indicators or signatures that someplace alongside the spacecraft’s journey, whether or not its launch or launch car separation, there’s another exterior affect or harm that might have occurred that might have been an element there,” she mentioned.

The crew — NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin — launched to the Worldwide Area Station in September in what was purported to be a six-month keep, with a return journey set for March.

Usually, crews rotate out after six-month stays on the house station, and Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin have been to return when a substitute crew flying the following spacecraft would relieve them. Since Roscosmos is now sending that spacecraft as a rescue car, with no crew on board, the substitute crew gained’t fly till September. And so Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin will stay aboard the house station till the brand new crew arrives.

NASA expects to fly its subsequent crew to the house station early Monday morning. The Crew-6 astronauts, two from NASA, one from Russia and one from the United Arab Emirates, will fly on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. They’d substitute the Crew-5 contingent, which is able to probably residence just a few days later.