MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. Russia intends to start testing the ultra-short one-orbit scheme of flight aboard a Soyuz manned spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023-2024, Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin told TASS on Friday.

Roscosmos is set to start testing the technology of one-orbit flights soon, he said.

"I believe that we will, perhaps, try to test this technology on a space freighter until the end of this year and we will probably test it on a manned spacecraft already in 2023-2024," Rogozin said.

Russia’s Energia Space Rocket Corporation announced in April 2019 that it had developed a one-orbit scheme for spacecraft to approach the international orbital outpost. The Energia press office said at the time that the scheme could be implemented in the next two or three years.

Roscosmos practiced elements of one-orbit rendezvousing with the ISS during a flight by the Progress MS-17 resupply ship to the orbital outpost in the summer of last year.

In December 2021, the Roscosmos chief said during a talk with cosmonauts that one-orbit flights by spacecraft to the ISS would begin soon.