MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. The de-orbiting of the Progress MS-21 space freighter, where a leak was reported on Saturday, was not affected by the incident and will take place on February 18, as was initially planned, Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos told TASS.
"Plans have not changed," a Roscosmos spokesperson said when asked whether the depressurization had any effect on the upcoming undocking and de-orbiting of the space freighter.
On Saturday, a drop in pressure was detected aboard the Progress MS-21 freighter, which was expected to end its mission at the International Space Station (ISS) on February 18. The spacecraft has been isolated from the ISS. Roscosmos said the causes of depressurization were being investigated, and emphasized that it had no effect on either the docking of the Progress MS-22 cargo spacecraft to the ISS or the schedule of space activities aboard the ISS.
The spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan atop a Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket. Two days later, it docked with the Poisk module of the Russian ISS segment. The space freighter delivered over 2,500 kilograms of cargo to the orbit.