MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. The spacecraft Soyuz MS-23 has been checked for leaks before being sent to the International Space Station (ISS), the Energia space rocket corporation (part of Roscosmos) has said.

"At the Baikonur cosmodrome, leak tests of the Soyuz MS-23 transport crewed spacecraft have been completed," the corporation said. In the coming days, checks of the propulsion system’s automation equipment, onboard digital computerized system and radio engineering systems will follow. Also, the thermal control system is to be filled with a coolant.

The mission of Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio was extended due to a leak from the external radiator of the thermal control system of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which occurred on December 15.

After analyzing the situation, the state commission decided to return the damaged Soyuz MS-22 without a crew. The cosmonauts, whose mission was extended by for several months, will travel back to Earth on the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft.

Before the emergency, it was assumed that the Soyuz MS-23 would fly to the ISS on March 16. Now, its launch is scheduled for February 20.