Russian space agency launches Soyuz spacecraft to bring back 3 astronauts stranded on ISS

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Recently the Russian space agency, Roscosmos has successfully launched the Soyuz spacecraft to bring back three astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) following aleak in the cooling system in their Soyuz capsule.

An overview of the news

• Two Russian and one American astronauts will board the empty Soyuz spacecraft to return to Earth.

• The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan and placed in orbit.

• US astronaut Francisco Rubio, along with Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, were due to return to Earth after their mission ended.

• But two months ago, it got stuck in space due to a leak in the cooling system of Soyuz MS-22 capsule.

• According to the Russian space agency Roscosmos, all three Soyuz will return to Earth on the MS-23 vehicle in September.

• The leak on the MS-22 spacecraft was caused by a small piece of a micrometeoroid hitting the capsule.

About International Space Station (ISS)

• It is a multi-nation construction project that is the largest single structure humans ever put into space.

• Its main construction was completed between 1998 and 2011.

• It is not owned by a single nation and according to the European Space Agency (ESA) is a "co-operative program" between Europe, the United States, Russia, Canada and Japan.

• As of May 2022, 258 individuals from 20 countries have visited the International Space Station.

• The top participating countries include the United States (158 people) and Russia (54 people).