Russia Sinks Damaged Space Cargo Ship In Pacific Ocean

Reuters

February 19, 2023

Feb 19 (Reuters) – Russia sank a damaged space cargo ship in the Pacific Ocean after it undocked from the International Space Station, Interfax news service reported on Sunday, citing the Roscosmos space agency.

International Space Station Configuration. Six spaceships are parked at the space station including the SpaceX Dragons Endurance and Endeavour; the Northrop Grumman Cygnus space freighter; and Russia’s Soyuz MS-21 crew ship and the Progress 79 and 80 resupply ships. Photo via NASA

“The Progress MS-21 (ship) was deorbited, entered the atmosphere and collapsed. Unburned elements of its structure fell in the non-navigational area of the South Pacific Ocean” on Saturday, the space agency was quoted as saying in a statement.

Roscosmos reported loss of pressure in the ship on Feb. 11. Investigations into the incident have delayed the launch of craft to take two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut back from the space station to as late as March 10 from a previous plan to launch on Monday.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne;)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2023.

Russia has two leaky space station ships. One is about to burn up over the ocean

Meanwhile, an astronaut and two cosmonauts wait for a return ride to Earth.

By Elisha Sauers on February 18, 2023


A Russian spacecraft spewed coolant into space in December. A second Russian cargo ship sprung a leak two months later. Credit: NASA Screen Grab


> Science > Space

Russia will dispose of a leaky supply ship that had been docked at the International Space Station this weekend, allowing it to burn up over the Pacific Ocean, according to NASA.

Managers of the Russian space agency Roscosmos decided to bring the Progress 82 cargo capsule back with an engine burn scheduled at 10:15 p.m. ET Saturday. They made the decision after undocking the ship Friday night to get a better look at its radiator.

No astronauts will be aboard the deorbiting spacecraft, as it's not intended for passengers. NASA said the ship is loaded with trash

SEE ALSO: The space station sprung a leak. NASA and Russia just revealed why.

The sendoff follows the discovery of a coolant leak onboard the spacecraft on Feb. 11(Opens in a new tab), making it the second Russian spacecraft to spring a leak at the space station over the past two months.

A Soyuz capsule for carrying humans also suffered a coolant leak in Dec. 2022, leaving three crew members without a return ride. After an investigation into the first leak, Russian and U.S. space officials believed a micrometeoroid smaller than a sharpened pencil tip had caused the puncture, not a manufacturing defect. The coolant seeping into space, caught on live video(Opens in a new tab), was intended to keep the cabin at a comfortable temperature.

But officials have not yet elaborated on the culprit of the cargo ship leak.

"The entire NASA and Roscosmos team have continued to work together to investigate the cause of this situation, and we will continue to do so," said Jeff Arend, manager of NASA's space station engineering office, during an unrelated news conference Friday. "We'll know more in the coming days." "We'll know more in the coming days."

Roscosmos investigated a coolant leak onboard a spacecraft that was intended to send an astronaut and two cosmonauts home in March 2023. Credit: NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP Via Getty Images

Both agencies previously determined the leaky crew capsule would be unfit to bring three men home. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio(Opens in a new tab) and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, who arrived at the space station in Sept. 2022, were supposed to be at the Earth-orbiting laboratory for six months, with a return trip set for March.

But it hasn't been clear when they will fly home.

Despite the Russia-Ukraine war and geopolitical tensions between Russia and the United States, the two nations' space agencies have continued to work collaboratively at the space station.

Joel Montalbano, NASA's space station program manager, said in January that the crew had taken the news well that their return ride was still TBD, were excited to be doing research in space, and were prepared to stay a full year if necessary.

"I may have to fly some more ice cream to reward them," he said then.

Earlier on Saturday, Roscosmos said it wants to launch an empty ship for the marooned crew on Feb. 24, according to news wire reports(Opens in a new tab). A state commission has to approve the new date, according to an Agence France-Presse report on Saturday.

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Elisha Sauers is the space and future tech reporter for Mashable, interested in asteroids, astronauts, and astro nuts. In over 15 years of reporting, she's covered a variety of topics, including health, business, and government, with a penchant for FOIA and other public records requests. She previously worked for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, and The Capital in Annapolis, Maryland, now known as The Capital-Gazette. She's won numerous state awards for beat reporting and national recognition(Opens in a new tab) for narrative storytelling.