PointOrView's video: Damaged Russian Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft returns home uncrewed

JUST IN: The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, which launched Expedition 68 crewmembers Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin, and NASA’s Frank Rubio on Sept. 21, 2022, returned to Earth in automated mode after suffering a leak in a coolant loop last December. Cosmonauts Prokopyev and Petelin were preparing to conduct an EVA on the Russian segment of the International Space Station on Dec. 15 when controllers noticed a leak in the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft’s service module. Flakes coming from the area of the coolant loop were noticed on live camera feeds pointing toward the spacecraft, and as a result, the EVA was canceled. The coolant loop aboard the Soyuz spacecraft had lost all of its fluid, and a 0.8 mm hole was found in the vehicle’s service module. As a result, the ISS program had to make some important decisions quickly while the spacecraft’s damage was being analyzed. The Soyuz MS-23 flight would now launch to the Station in an automated mode, without crew, as the MS-22 crew’s stay would be extended from this spring to September.