Soyuz MS-23

Soyuz MS-23 is a planned Russian uncrewed Soyuz spaceflight to launch from Baikonur on 20 February 2023 to the International Space Station, in order to replace the Soyuz MS spacecraft for landing that the three Soyuz MS-22 crew members launched onboard, with a new spacecraft.

Background

Due to the -diameter hole punctured in the radiator of Soyuz MS-22 due to micro-meteorite impact, there are doubts over the safety of Soyuz MS-22. It will return uncrewed like Soyuz 32 and MS-23 will be launched unmanned like Soyuz 34 as a replacement, which can be prepared for flight by February 20. As it will launch uncrewed, it will carry some supplies, acting like a Progress MS spacecraft.

Until the replacement MS-23 docks to ISS, SpaceX Crew-5 is considered among the options to return the MS-22 crew, in case of emergency. This is due to the fact that SpaceX originally designed the Crew 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 astronaut Francisco Rubio’s Soyuz seat liner from the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft to Dragon ''Endurance'', in order 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 move is scheduled to begin on 17 January 2023, with installation and configuration continuing through most of the day, 18 January 2023. The change allows 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.

Once the MS-23 arrives at the space station on 22 February, Rubio’s seat liner will be transferred to the new Soyuz and the seat liners for Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin will be moved from MS-22 to MS-23 ahead of their return in the Soyuz.

Crew

Original scenario

The original three-Russian member crew for this scenario was named in May 2021. American astronaut Loral O'Hara replaced Andrey Fedyaev as a part of the Soyuz-Dragon crew swap system of keeping at least one NASA astronaut and one Roscosmos cosmonaut on each of the crew rotation missions. This ensures both countries have a presence on the station, and the ability to maintain their separate systems if either Soyuz or commercial crew vehicles are grounded for an extended period.

Primary Crew

Backup crew

New scenario

As Soyuz MS-22 is unable to perform crew return, it will reenter uncrewed like Soyuz 32 and MS-23 will be launched empty like Soyuz 34 to return the MS-22 crew on 20 February 2023. The original crewed mission will be delayed and reassigned to the MS-24 mission.

Crew

References

{{Future spaceflights

Crewed Soyuz missions
Future human spaceflights
2023 in spaceflight
2023 in Russia