The spacecraft will bring the two Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and the American astronaut Frank Rubio back to Earth.
The astronauts’ return vehicle Soyuz MS-22 began leaking coolant in December after likely being damaged by a micrometeorite. The incident led to the cancellation of a planned spacewalk.
The announcement was made at a joint press conference with representatives of the American space agency Nasa.
— We don’t call it a rescue Soyuz. I call it a replacement Soyuz, says Joel Montalbano, NASA’s head of the ISS program.
He also pointed out that the crew is currently safe on the space station.
The Russian MS-22 rocket was launched in Kazakhstan in September and flew Petelin, Prokopyev and Rubio to the space station. The idea was to return in the same spacecraft in March – but now it looks like their stay on the ISS will be extended by several months.
The empty craft is scheduled to be sent away on February 20.