John Paul M. Joaquin Science 01.20.2023 20:Jan PM EST

Rubio, Prokopyev, Petelin May Stay in the ISS for a Year Before They Can Return Home

The stranded astronauts in the International Space Station may have to wait some more before they can return to Earth.

NASA recently announced that it could take several more months before the three astronauts stranded on the ISS could get home due to developments for their return trip to Earth.

The three astronauts were stranded on the ISS when a micrometeorite smashed against the spacecraft they originally used to reach the station, leaking all of its coolant in the process, per CNET.

ISS Astronaut Rescue Details

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin are in an unusual situation. They were supposed to return to Earth sometime in March aboard the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft they used to reach the ISS when a micrometeorite caused all its coolant to leak in mid-December 2022.

The leak rendered the spacecraft unfit for the three to use for their return trip to Earth except for when an emergency arises, per Space.com. Fortunately, Russia's Roscosmos and NASA have a plan to get them home.

Roscosmos announced it is sending a new Soyuz spacecraft, the MS-23, up to the ISS to provide the three a means to safely return to Earth.

However, NASA's ISS operation integration manager, Dina Contella, said in a press conference on Jan. 17 that the three have to stay on board the ISS until they can get home.

Contella said that Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin would need to wait for the next crewed Soyuz spacecraft that would come after MS-23 before they could return to Earth.

Although Contella assured the public that NASA and Roscosmos are looking at the exact timing of the new Soyuz to arrive on the ISS, it may arrive sometime in September, meaning that the three will have to wait for many more months to return to Earth.

If late September means sometime after Sept. 21, then Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin will be aboard the ISS for a year since they arrived on the ISS on Sept. 21, 2022, per Russian Space Web.

There are some astronauts and cosmonauts that have nearly experienced being in space for almost a year in recent years, such as

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei logged about 353 days on the ISS before he returned to Earth in April 2022, per an earlier Space.com report. Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko and astronaut Scott Kelly spent 340 days on the ISS, per VICE.

However, no astronaut nor cosmonaut has yet to reach a full year inside the space station, and if there are no changes to the space agencies' plan to get them back to Earth at an earlier time, they may be the first to do so, per Ars Technica.

Life On The ISS

In the meantime though, it's business as usual for the three while NASA and Roscosmos are working on getting them back to Earth. According to Space News, NASA astronaut Nicole Mann and JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, who are part of NASA and SpaceX's Crew-5 mission, will conduct a spacewalk on Jan. 20 to install a mounting bracket for a new solar array.

Meanwhile, the three will continue their work on the ISS until they are ready to return to Earth.