Soyuz MS-23

Background

A 0.8 mm-diameter hole punctured the radiator of Soyuz MS-22 due to a micro-meteoroid impact, raising doubts about the spacecraft's safety. Consequently, MS-22 was returned uncrewed, similar to Soyuz 32, and MS-23 was launched uncrewed like Soyuz 34 to serve as a replacement. Because it launched without crew, MS-23 carried approximately 430 kg of dry cargo and equipment in its pressurized section, akin to a Progress MS spacecraft. Until MS-23 docked with the ISS, SpaceX Crew-5 was considered among the options to return the MS-22 crew in an emergency, as the Crew Dragon was originally designed to host up to seven crew members.

The mission management team decided to move NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio's Soyuz seat liner from MS-22 to Dragon Endurance to provide lifeboat capabilities for an emergency evacuation. This seat liner transfer occurred on 17 January 2023, with installation continuing through most of 18 January. While swapping seat liners between two Soyuz spacecraft was not new, this marked the first time a liner was moved from Soyuz to a Crew Dragon. The change reduced the heat load inside MS-22 for cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin in case of an emergency return.

The SpaceX Crew-6 capsule was also designed to bring back crew as an emergency evacuation after Crew-5. Since MS-22 could not perform crew return, it reentered uncrewed, and MS-23 launched empty to return the crew. The original crewed mission was delayed and reassigned to Soyuz MS-24. After MS-23 arrived at the space station on 26 February, Rubio's seat liner was transferred to the new Soyuz on 6 March, while the seat liners for Prokopyev and Petelin were moved from MS-22 to MS-23 on 2 March ahead of their return.