The uncrewed Soyuz MS-23 became the first rescue vessel in history of spaceflight after its launch to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, QazMonitor reports.
On December 15, 2022, the ISS crew observed a “visible stream of flakes” emanating from the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked at the station. During the examination, the astronauts reported that the leakage was caused by the micro-meteorite impact leaving a 0.8 mm-diameter hole in the external cooling radiator.
Based on the results of the technical examination, it was decided to lower the spacecraft back to Earth in unmanned mode and schedule the return of the current ISS crew on a different spacecraft.
The current mission, Soyuz MS-23, is expected to dock the station in two days at the Russian module “Prichal”. As of now, the crew at the ISS consists of cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and astronaut Frank Rubio.
The crew is scheduled to return to Earth in September 2023.
