Faulty Progress MS-21 cargo spacecraft undocked from ISS
The Progress MS-21 cargo spacecraft with a faulty cooling system undocked from the ISS
MOSCOW, Feb 18 – PRIME. The Progress MS-21 cargo ship with a faulty thermal control system has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS), it will be deorbited and flooded, follows from the Roscosmos broadcast.
It is planned that before the ship is deorbited, the cosmonauts will turn it around with the help of a teleoperator control system and take another picture of the damage site.
After that, the ship will begin to move independently. At 7:03 Moscow time, its propulsion system will turn on for braking, and the Progress will begin to deorbit. Further, the fireproof wreckage of the ship will have to fall in the non-navigable region of the Pacific Ocean.
Progress MS-21 has been a part of the ISS since October 28, 2022. He brought more than 2.5 tons of cargo to the station – fuel, water, atmospheric nitrogen, equipment, clothes and food, equipment for experiments.
It has already become the second ship that lost its thermal control system in less than two months. This first happened to the manned Soyuz MS-22 on December 15, 2022. Then the cause was called a micrometeorite hit. To pick up the astronauts, the next Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft will be sent unmanned. The launch date will be announced after further study of the situation with the truck.
