Cosmonauts Will Use Stricken Soyuz MS-22 in the Event of Emergency

https://twitter.com/_/status/1613536699103023108

https://twitter.com/_/status/1613537122203439107

The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft leaked all of its coolant after a micro-meteoroid/orbital debris strike damaged the external radiator system. The temperatures inside the vehicle would reach in excess of 40 degrees C (104 F) if they were to close the hatch, and this combined with rapidly climbing humidity levels would make it unbearable in a pressure suit. The plan is to send up the next Soyuz in automatic mode with no one in it in order to replace the damaged Soyuz and give the one American astronaut (Frank Rubio) and two cosmonauts a new vehicle to ride home. In the meantime though, there needs to be a plan in place in case there's an emergency that requires the crew to immediately evacuate the station.

This does not always mean they actually undock and return to earth; this can sometimes involve getting in the capsules without departing. For instance, if they detect there's a risk of collision between the station and a piece of large debris but the risk isn't discovered until it's minutes from happening, there isn't time to maneuver the station out of the way. There have been times they've needed to get in the capsules and seal the hatches in case the station's main segments are hit and rapidly depressurize, as this would protect the crew and allow them to leave the station. Of course one of the capsules might get hit, but it's a smaller target and there's always at least two capsules docked these days, so only one would be lost.

Russia has decided for political reasons to require the two cosmonauts who flew up on the MS-22 capsule to use that now-damaged vehicle in the event of an emergency, even though the SpaceX Dragon was originally designed to be capable of holding up to seven people. This politically driven decision would not even prevent all of their cosmonauts from being seen to rely on an American spacecraft for evacuation; Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina is currently on ISS after launching on the Dragon in a seat-swap that allowed Frank Rubio to ride up on the Soyuz. She will land with the Dragon, whether at the end of a nominal mission or in an emergency. There's no seat liner for her for the Soyuz, her swapping with Rubio isn't really an option. Rubio, on the other hand, is moving his seat into the Dragon. Soyuz seat liners are detachable in-flight, and they're each individually molded to the exact shape of the person who will be using it.

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Obviously this wasn't designed to attach in the Dragon, but no doubt they've been working on a way to hack together a temporary solution.

You can see the SpaceX Crew-5 Dragon and the stricken Soyuz MS-22 vehicle in my latest video tracking ISS which I filmed on Tuesday morning: