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Cosmonauts in good health, not opposed to staying longer on board ISS — Roscosmos

Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio will travel back to Earth on the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. The Russian crew of the International Space Station (ISS), whose mission will be extended by several months due to the breakdown of the Soyuz spacecraft, do not mind staying in orbit a bit longer, Roscosmos said on Thursday.

Earlier it was expected that the astronauts, who arrived at the station on September 21, would return to Earth at the end of March.

The state corporation specified that on Wednesday medics assessed the level of physical fitness of the crew. "The cosmonauts on the ISS feel great! And they don't mind staying on board the station a little longer," Roscosmos said in a message on its Telegram channel on Thursday.

On December 15, 2022, the external part of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft’s thermal control radiator developed a leak. After analyzing the situation, the state commission opted for the damaged spacecraft’s crewless reentry. Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, whose mission had to be extended by several months, will travel back to Earth on the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft.