Crew stuck on ISS to return to Earth in September: Russia

Russia plans to send a rescue ship, a Soyuz MS-23, on February 24.

Russia's space agency on Tuesday said that the crew stuck on the International Space Station because of a damaged capsule were now expected to return to Earth in September, a year after they first launched into orbit.

Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopyev and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio flew to the ISS in September 2022 aboard a Soyuz MS-22 capsule.

They were scheduled to return home in the same spacecraft, but it began leaking coolant in mid-December after being hit by what U.S. and Russian space officials believe was a tiny space rock.

Russia plans to send a rescue ship, a Soyuz MS-23, on February 24.

Before the leak, the trio had been due to return to Earth on March 28, 2023.

But on Tuesday, Russia's Roscosmos space agency said in a statement that their return "at the moment is scheduled to take place aboard the Soyuz MS-23 in September, 2023."

Roscosmos said the extended space stay — normally ISS missions last six months — posed no health risks for the crew, adding that they had taken the news of their mission extending "positively."