 Soyuz MS-23 arriving at the International Space Station | |
| Names | ISS 69S |
|---|---|
| Mission type | Uncrewed spacecraft replacement mission to ISS |
| Operator | Roscosmos |
| COSPAR ID | 2023-024A |
| SATCATno. | 55688 |
| Mission duration | 215 days, 10 hours and 53 minutes |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Soyuz MS No. 754 |
| Spacecraft type | Soyuz MS |
| Manufacturer | Energia |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 0 up, 3 down |
| Landing | |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 24 February 2023, 00:24 UTC |
| Rocket | Soyuz 2.1a |
| Launch site | Baikonur,31/6 |
| Contractor | RKTs Progress |
| End of mission | |
| Landing date | 27 September 2023, 11:17 UTC |
| Landing site | Kazakh Steppe, Kazakhstan |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Inclination | 51.66° |
| Docking withISS | |
| Docking port | Poisk zenith |
| Docking date | 26 February 2023, 00:58 UTC |
| Undocking date | 6 April 2023, 08:45 UTC |
| Time docked | 39 days, 7 hours and 47 minutes |
| Docking with ISS (relocation)[a] | |
| Docking port | Prichal nadir |
| Docking date | 6 April 2023, 09:22 UTC |
| Undocking date | 27 September 2023, 07:54:21 UTC[1] |
| Time docked | 173 days, 22 hours and 32 minutes |
| Cargo | |
| Mass | ~430 kg (950 lb) |
 Landing mission insignia, which incorporated elements from the launching mission insignia  From left:Rubio,Prokopyev, andPetelin | |
Soyuz MS-23 was an uncrewed RussianSoyuz spaceflight that launched fromBaikonur on 24 February 2023 to theInternational Space Station to replace the damagedSoyuz MS-22 spacecraft for landing thatNASA astronautFrancisco Rubio andRoscosmos cosmonautsSergey Prokopyev andDmitry Petelin launched onboard on 21 September 2022 and had a coolant leak on 14 December before returning to Earth uncrewed on 28 March 2023.[2]
Due to the 0.8 mm (0.031 in)-diameter hole punctured in the radiator ofSoyuz MS-22 due to micro-meteoroid impact,[3] there were doubts over the safety of Soyuz MS-22. So it was returned uncrewed likeSoyuz 32, and MS-23 was launched uncrewed likeSoyuz 34 as a replacement.[4][5] As it was launched uncrewed, it carried ~430 kg (950 lb) dry cargo and equipment in its pressurized section, like aProgress MS spacecraft.
Until the replacement MS-23 docked with the ISS,SpaceX Crew-5 was considered among the options to return the MS-22 crew in case of emergency. This is due to the fact thatSpaceX originally designed theCrew Dragon to host a crew of seven at a time. Due to these reasons, the International Space Station mission management team decided to move NASA astronautFrancisco Rubio's Soyuz seat liner from the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft to DragonEndurance to provide lifeboat capabilities in the event Rubio would need to return to Earth because of an emergency evacuation from the space station. The seat liner was moved on 17 January 2023, with installation and configuration continuing through most of the day, 18 January 2023. This seat liner swapping is not new between two Soyuz, but this was the first time swapping from Soyuz to Crew Dragon.[6] The change allowed for increased crew protection by reducing the heat load inside the MS-22 spacecraft for cosmonauts Prokopyev and Petelin in the event of an emergency return to Earth. AlongsideSpaceX Crew-6 space capsule is designed to bring back crew serving as an emergency evacuation after Crew-5.[7]
As Soyuz MS-22 was unable to perform crew return, it reentered uncrewed likeSoyuz 32, and MS-23 was launched empty likeSoyuz 34 to return the crew.[8] The original crewed mission was delayed and reassigned toSoyuz MS-24.
As the MS-23 arrived at the space station on 26 February, Rubio's seat liner was transferred to the new Soyuz on 6 March, and the seat liners forSergey Prokopyev andDmitry Petelin were moved from MS-22 to MS-23 on 2 March ahead of their return in the Soyuz.[6]
| Position | Launching crew | Landing crew |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | None | Sergey Prokopyev,Roscosmos Expedition 67/68/69 Second spaceflight |
| Flight engineer | None | Dmitry Petelin,Roscosmos Expedition 67/68/69 First spaceflight |
| Flight engineer | None | Francisco Rubio,NASA Expedition 67/68/69 First spaceflight |
| Position | Crew member | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Oleg Kononenko,Roscosmos | |
| Flight engineer | Nikolai Chub,Roscosmos | |
| Flight engineer |  Loral O'Hara,NASA | |
| Position | Crew member | |
|---|---|---|
| Commander | Aleksey Ovchinin,Roscosmos | |
| Flight engineer | Tracy Caldwell Dyson,NASA[9] | |
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
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