​The Soyuz capsule that leaked in December will be sent back to Earth on Tuesday without a crew on board. If all goes well, the capsule will make the two-hour journey from the International Space Station to the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Union MS 22Photo: NASA

Departure from SSI is scheduled for 12.57, and landing in Baikonur – at 14.45 (Romanian time). Russia’s Roscosmos launched a capsule in September 2022, carrying three people to the ISS.

  • A brief history of unfortunate incidents involving Russian spacecraft over the past 5 years

Since this capsule could no longer be used safely, because the temperature would be too high, inside, without coolant, Russia found a way out of the accident. On February 23, Roscosmos sent an empty capsule to the ISS, which will deliver astronauts to Earth no later than September.

It is very rare for a capsule to be sent from SSI to Earth without a crew, but on December 15, 2022, the Soyuz MS-22 capsule was damaged due to loss of coolant.

The leak occurred after a mini-meteorite crashed into a radiator pipe and damaged the spacecraft.