Russian Soyuz MS-23 Spacecraft Launching Date Revealed

In December 2022, the “Soyuz capsule” intended to return to Earth carrying three NASA astronauts faced the first coolant leakage, which was captured on video.

The main reason for leakage is caused by micrometeoroid impact, and temperatures inside the Soyuz became so high that they could not travel back to Earth.

For returning back the ISS crew members to Earth, the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced on Telegram that a replacement Soyuz “Soyuz MS-23” spacecraft will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on February 24.

If an emergency occurs before the replacement Soyuz’s arrival, the ISS crew can be evacuated using the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, which is available at their disposal.

The launching date of the replacement Soyuz was revealed in response to a second coolant leak of the “Progress 82” cargo spacecraft during its landing at ISS. But before finalizing its launch, the agency decided to inquire about the condition of the Progress craft.

Further, the agency reported that the Progress craft was undocked and deorbited as scheduled, and no damage to its radiator has been found. Also, the coolant leakage in the Progress spacecraft wasn’t a big problem as no crew was involved, and the trash would be destroyed during deorbiting.

It is still unclear how the two most recent coolant leaks were caused. According to NASA, the likely cause is an impact by a micrometeoroid, which is a known danger near the ISS surroundings.