ISS

[ORAC]

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023...-ms-22-return/

Damaged Soyuz MS-22 craft returns home uncrewed

The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, which launched Expedition 68 crewmembers Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin, and NASA’s Frank Rubio on Sept. 21, 2022, returned to Earth in automated mode after suffering a leak in a coolant loop last December.…

The coolant loop aboard the Soyuz spacecraft had lost all of its fluid, and a 0.8 mm hole was found in the vehicle’s service module. As a result, the ISS program had to make some important decisions quickly while the spacecraft’s damage was being analyzed. The Soyuz MS-23 flight would now launch to the Station in an automated mode, without crew, as the MS-22 crew’s stay would be extended from this spring to September.…

Before Soyuz MS-23 docked at the Station, Progress MS-21 also suffered a coolant leak of its own from its service module.The leaks on both spacecraft had occurred after approximately three months in orbit, and both the uncrewed Progress and crewed Soyuz vehicles use the same service module architecture…..

After the MS-22 coolant leak in December, it was thought that it was caused by a micrometeoroid impact. However, the Progress MS-21 leak caused speculation regarding a systemic fault in current Soyuz-based vehicles…..