The Russian space agency (Roscosmos) announced today Monday the postponement of the launch of the spacecraft Soyuz MS-23, which is expected to return three astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth, due to a leak detected in a resupply vessel docked to the ISS.

On Saturday, Roscosmos announced that a “pressure drop was detected on the Progress MS-21 resupply vehicle, which is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on February 18.” The temperature and pressure on the ISS remain at normal levels, the Russian space agency assured, confirming NASA’s note that “there is no threat to the crew”.

Today the head of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov said that because of this leak, “the launch of the unmanned Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft has been postponed until the first ten days of March at the latest.”

Two months ago, a leak was detected in a Soyuz spacecraft docked to the International Space Station, which was intended to carry Russian cosmonauts Dmitry Petelin and Sergei Prokopiev, as well as American astronaut Frank Rubio, back to Earth.

For security reasons, the Russian space agency decided to send another spaceship to pick up the three ISS crew members. However, it was forced to postpone its launch today.

“Although the result of the two emergencies is the same, the causes may be different,” Borisov said, referring to the two back-to-back leaks.

The International Space Station is one of the few remaining areas of cooperation between Moscow and Washington since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (February 24) and Western sanctions against Russia