MOSCOW, March 6 Russian cosmonaut Sergei Prokopiev, along with fellow crew members Dmitry Petelin and American Frank Rubio will dock the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft from one module of the International Space Station to another in order to conduct spacewalks in the spring and summer, the Roscosmos press service told reporters.
«Today, at the International Space Station, it is planned to re-dock the Soyuz MS-23 manned spacecraft from the Poisk small research module to the Prichal node module,» the report says.
It is specified that the operation will be performed manually by the spacecraft commander Sergei Prokopyev, who will be accompanied by cosmonaut Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio in Soyuz MS-23 during the docking
It is noted that before the operation, the crew will close the transfer hatches between Soyuz MS-23 and Poisk, check their tightness and put on Sokol-KV2 rescue suits. Next, the cosmonauts will take their places in the spacecraft's descent module, close the hatch to the utility compartment and check the tightness of the hatch and spacesuits. Soyuz separation from the station is expected at 11.45 Moscow time, its docking to the Berth module will take place at 12.23 Moscow time. After that, the crew will open the hatch to the service compartment, take off their spacesuits, check the tightness of the transfer hatches between Soyuz and Prichal and open them.
As Roskosmos explained, moving the spacecraft is necessary to ensure the safety of spacewalks under the Russian program from the Poisk module, scheduled for spring-summer 2023.
According to the state corporation, this will be the 51st re-docking carried out by Soyuz spacecraft at orbital stations since 1978. On the ISS, such an operation will be carried out for the 21st time.
Prokopiev, Petelin and Rubio arrived at the ISS on September 21, 2022 on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft. Due to the fact that the ship's cooling system failed after the micrometeoroid hit the radiator, the crew decided to return to Earth on the next ship. Soyuz MS-23 docked to Poisk in automatic mode on February 26, 2023. Soyuz MS-22 also automatically undocked from the station on March 28. His descent vehicle landed in Kazakhstan a few hours later on the same day.
The crew of the 69th long-term expedition is working on the ISS. In addition to Prokopiev, Petelin and Rubio, it includes another Russian Andrey Fedyaev, US NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, and UAE astronaut Sultan al-Neyadi. All four arrived at the station on the American Crew Dragon on March 3.