Moscow is mulling a rescue mission to remove its cosmonauts from the International Space Station days after a leak on the Soyuz spacecraft forced the cancellation of the Russian spacewalk. The three cosmonauts might be transported to the flying lab by an empty spaceship that would be sent by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.
In a press conference, representatives from Roscosmos and NASA insisted that they are looking into the reason of the leak aboard the Soyuz spacecraft and denied claims that the Geminid meteor shower was to blame.
No final decision has been made about the precise means of flying the capsule’s three crew members back to Earth – whether by launching another Soyuz to retrieve them or by the seemingly less likely option of sending them home in the leaky capsule without most of its coolant, Reuters reported.
Russia has already hinted that the next scheduled launch of a Soyuz, which was in March could be expedited, if necessary. Roscosmos said the next Soyuz spacecraft, the Soyuz MS-23, has already undergone some of the tests in preparation for a previously scheduled March launch. It said the launch could be expedited, if necessary.
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