MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s space agency said on Wednesday it would launch a Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft on Feb. 20 to bring home two cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut from the International Space Station (ISS) after their original capsule sprang a coolant leak last month.
“The expedition of Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Francisco Rubio to the ISS is being extended. They will return to Earth on Soyuz MS-23,” Roscosmos said.
The Dec. 14 leak stemmed from a tiny puncture in the external radiator of the Soyuz MS-22 capsule which is currently docked to the ISS and was due to bring the three crew members back to Earth in March.
(Reporting by Reuters. Writing by Mark Trevelyan; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
