spacetoday.net: Uncrewed Soyuz returns from ISS

Posted: Fri, Mar 31, 2023, 7:27 PM ET (2327 GMT)
An uncrewed, damaged Soyuz spacecraft returned to Earth from the International Space Station Tuesday morning. The Soyuz MS-22 undocked from the ISS at 5:57 am EDT (0957 GMT) and landed in Kazakhstan at 7:46 am EDT (1146 GMT). The spacecraft experienced a coolant leak in December that led Roscosmos and NASA to conclude the spacecraft could not be used to return its three-person crew to Earth. The cause of the leak was originally blamed on a micrometeoroid strike, but after a similar leak on a Progress spacecraft docked to the station in February, officials said they could not rule out a manufacturing defect. Russia launched the uncrewed Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft in February that will return two Roscosmos cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut from the station in September.