Russia to launch new capsule to return space station crew

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos says it will launch a new spacecraft to take some of the International Space Station’s crew back to Earth after their capsule was damaged and leaked coolant. Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio arrived at the station in September on board a Soyuz MS-22 and planned to use the capsule to return to Earth. But it leaked coolant last month, resulting in higher cabin temperatures. Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov told reporters Wednesday that after analyzing the situation and discussing it with NASA, Roscosmos decided to launch a new Soyuz MS-23 capsule in crewless automatic mode on Feb. 20 to take the trio back.