MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. The Russian space agency Roscosmos plans to undock and bring to Earth the damaged Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft one or two weeks after the arrival of the Soyuz MS-23 spaceship at the orbital outpost, Roscosmos Executive Director for Human Spaceflights Sergey Krikalyov said on Wednesday.
"We expect to prepare the Soyuz and send it back to Earth a week or two after the arrival of the new Soyuz," Krikalyov said during a phone press conference on the incident with the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft’s damaged exterior.
The damaged Soyuz spacecraft is set to land in the accustomed area on the territory of Kazakhstan, he said.
Roscosmos Chief Yury Borisov said earlier on Wednesday, following the results of a state commission meeting that the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft with its damaged radiator would descend to Earth in unpiloted mode. At the same time, Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio would return to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-23 spaceship that would launch to the International Space Station on February 20 instead of March 16 as previously planned and would simultaneously deliver supplies to the orbital outpost, he said.