Russia’s space agency has stated that it is considering sending an empty spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) to bring three crew members home early after their Soyuz capsule began leaking.
Roscosmos and NASA have stated that it is unclear how the spacecraft’s external radiator was punctured.
They have ruled out a meteorite collision.
Two cosmonauts were prepared for a normal spacewalk when the leak began.
It has not yet been determined how the three crew members would be brought back to Earth.
The most probable alternative would be to dispatch another Soyuz spacecraft to retrieve them.
Sending them home in the leaking capsule without the majority of its coolant, which regulates temperatures in the crew compartment, is a less likely alternative.
In September, the MS-22 vehicle transported Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergey Prokopyev as well as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to the station.
This month, though, it began shooting coolant into space, with NASA TV catching stunning views of snowflake-like white particles erupting from the capsule.
The most likely period to launch another Soyuz, according to NASA’s ISS program manager Joel Montalbano, is late February. The crew was expected back in March.
NASA reports that no crew members are in danger.
Mr. Montalbano stated that the capsule is currently being vented via an open hatch to the space station.
The ISS was launched in 1998 and is approximately 400 kilometers from Earth.
At the space station, cosmonauts conduct tests and research that will aid future space trips.
