Russian Soyuz spacecraft starts mission to return crew stranded on ISS

Russian space agency Roscosmos said this week the trio would now return to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-23 in September. The damaged MS-22 spacecraft is now scheduled to land without a crew in March.

Both NASA and Roscosmos believe last year's leak on the MS-22 spacecraft was caused by a micrometeoroid — a tiny particle of space rock — hitting the capsule at high velocity.

A similar impact is also believed to have caused a separate leak this month on the cooling system of the Progress MS-21 cargo ship, taken out of orbit last week.

Tass said 430 kilograms (about 950 pounds) of cargo was sent aboard the replacement craft, including medical equipment, scientific instruments, water, food and cleaning supplies. Tass quoted a Russian space official as saying the amount of food sent was three times the amount normally dispatched for such missions.

The leaks have prompted Roscosmos and NASA to rearrange their schedules and postpone planned spacewalks.

Reuters