Soyuz

Launch of a Russian Soyuz crew capsule to replace a damaged ferry ship docked at the International Space Station is being delayed in the wake of a second incident that resulted in similar damage to a Progress cargo ship, a senior official said Monday.

A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, boosting a Progress resupply ship into orbit in pursuit of the International Space Station with more than 5,500 pounds of cargo, fuel, water, and air.

Russian space agency and NASA officials said Wednesday they will accelerate the launch of the next Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, and fly it to the complex next month without anyone on-board to replace a Soyuz crew ferry ship damaged Dec. 14 by a high-speed impact, likely from a tiny particle from deep space. The schedule shuffle will mean two Russian cosmonauts and one U.S. astronaut will stay in space several months beyond their planned return to Earth in late March.

Russian managers are assessing whether a damaged Soyuz spacecraft docked at the International Space Station can safely carry its three-man crew back to Earth in late March as planned or whether a replacement must be launched to take its place, officials said Monday.

A Russian Soyuz crew ferry ship docked to the International Space Station spewed particles of an unknown substance, presumably coolant fluid, into space Wednesday night, forcing two Russian cosmonauts to call off a planned spacewalk as engineers on the ground scrambled to determine the source and the effects of the leak.

Russian engineers are evaluating an apparent coolant leak coming from the Soyuz MS-22 crew ferry ship docked to the International Space Station. The leak was discovered around 7:45 p.m. EST Wednesday (0045 GMT Thursday) and forced the cancellation of a planned spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts.

Russia launched a Progress supply freighter Tuesday on a two-day trek to the International Space Station to deliver 5,556 pounds of cargo, fuel, water, and nitrogen to the orbiting research laboratory. A Soyuz booster launched the Progress cargo ship from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.