MOSCOW: Russia’s space agency on Tuesday said that the crew stuck on the International Space Station because of a damaged capsule were now expected to return to Earth in September, a year after they first launched into orbit.

Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev and Nasa astronaut Frank Rubio flew to the ISS in September 2022 aboard a Soyuz MS-22 capsule.

They were scheduled to return home in the same spacecraft, but it began leaking coolant in mid-December after being hit by what US and Russian space officials believe was a tiny space rock.

Russia plans to send a rescue ship, a Soyuz MS-23, on Feb 24. Before the leak, the trio had been due to return to Earth on March 28, 2023.

But on Tuesday, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency said in a statement that their return “at the moment is scheduled to take place aboard the Soyuz MS-23 in September, 2023.” Roscosmos said the extended space stay — normally ISS missions last six months — posed no health risks for the crew, adding that they had taken the news of their mission extending “positively.” In 2021, Russia’s Pyotr Dubrov and the US’s Mark Vande also spent a year on the ISS after their mission was extended, it said.

The launch of the rescue Soyuz capsule was itself postponed earlier this month after another vessel — a Russian supply ship docked at the ISS, the Progress MS-21 — had also leaked coolant, sparking concern.

Published in Dawn, February 22th, 2023