Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev, as well as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, will launch to the International Space Station in September 2022 aboard a Soyuz MS-22 vehicle.
They were supposed to return home in the same spacecraft, but it began leaking coolant in mid-December after being hit by a tiny space rock, according to US and Russian space authorities.
On February 24, Russia intends to deploy a rescue ship, the Soyuz MS-23.
The three was supposed to return to Earth on March 28, 2023, before the leak.
Nevertheless, Russia’s Roscosmos space agency announced on Tuesday that their return “is now scheduled to take place aboard the Soyuz MS-23 in September, 2023.”
The prolonged space stay presented no health hazards to the crew, according to Roscosmos, who added that they had accepted the news of their mission extending “positively.”
According to the report, Russia’s Pyotr Dubrov and the United States’ Mark Vande spent a year aboard the International Space Station after their missions were extended in 2021.
The launch of the rescue Soyuz capsule was delayed earlier this month because another spacecraft, the Progress MS-21, a Russian supply ship parked at the ISS, spilled coolant, raising concerns.
Roscosmos claimed on Tuesday that the leak was caused by a “external impact,” citing images and videos of holes in the capsule’s exterior, including the radiator and solar panels.
Since the commencement of Russia’s incursion in Ukraine and the subsequent Western sanctions on Russia, space has remained a rare forum for collaboration between Moscow and Washington.
The International Space Station (ISS) was established in 1998, during a time of increasing US-Russia collaboration following the Cold War “Space Race.”
Since the 1960s, Russia has used the ageing but dependable Soyuz capsules to transport humans into space.
Yet, in recent years, Russia’s space program has been plagued by a slew of issues that have resulted in the loss of satellites and vehicles.