Uncrewed landing capsule of Soyuz MS-22 touches down in Kazakhstan

KOROLYOV, Moscow region. March 28 (Interfax) - The uncrewed landing capsule of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) earlier on Tuesday, has landed in Kazakhstan, an Interfax correspondent has reported from the mission control outside of Moscow.

The capsule touched down 147 kilometers southeast of the Kazakh city of Zhezkazgan at 2:45 p.m. Moscow time.

The capsule returned to Earth cargo weighing 218 kilos, including results of scientific experiments and ISS equipment to be analyzed or reused.

Roscosmos said on December 15, 2022 that Russian cosmonauts canceled a spacewalk from the ISS because of depressurization of Soyuz MS-22's external radiator's contour. An analysis confirmed the ship's damage by a micrometeorite, Roscosmos head Yury Borisov said on January 11. A piece of space debris is deemed to be responsible for the 1mm hole in the skin of the spaceship's assist module.

The Soyuz MS-22 with a Russian-U.S. crew docked with the ISS on September 21, 2022. Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio operated the spaceship. They will return to Earth in the second half of 2023 on the Soyuz MS-23 that arrived at the ISS on February 26.