“The State Commission decided to launch the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft on February 20, 2023 without crew and cargo bound for the International Space Station”Director General of the Russian Space Agency Yuri Borisov told the Russian press. According to the head of Roscosmos, the unmanned flight makes it possible to anticipate the launch of the spacecraft.

After the Soyuz MS-22 was placed on the International Space Station, two variants of the Soyuz MS-23 launch were discussed, with an astronaut on board or in an uncrewed system.It is to explain.

Borisov noted that the individual cosmonaut flight variant would require changes to the spacecraft and increased crew preparation, so the launch would be delayed by several weeks.

Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station reported to Ground Control in December that a sensor indicated low pressure in the Soyuz structure’s cooling system. indicates an escapewhich was “visually confirmed”.

This escape forced the cancellation of the spacewalk, in which Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petlin would take part. Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina took pictures and recorded videos of the Soyuz structure with a camera mounted on a robotic arm attached to the Nauka module.

The Soyuz equipment hull and propulsion section, which also includes the landing module and the working and resting compartment, were damaged.

See pictures of the International Space Station and its various units

On November 25, Prokofiev and Petlin’s spacewalks were canceled due to… A problem with one of the spacesuits. In mid-August, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev also returned to the International Space Station early due to problems with his spacesuit during an extravehicular activity.