MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. The State Commission has approved the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft on February 24, Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos said on Monday.
"Today, the State Commission issued a permit for the rocket to be placed in the launching facility of the 31st launch pad on February 21. The launch of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Soyuz MS-23 unmanned spacecraft is scheduled for 3:24:27 a.m. Moscow time on February 24," it said.
The launch was initially planned for February 20 but Roscosmos CEO Yury Borisov said on February 13 that the launch had been postponed to a date no later than after the first ten days of March.
The Soyuz MS-23 is to deliver 430 kilograms of cargo to the ISS, including equipment for experiments and food. Vladimir Solovyov, chief designer of Russian manned systems head of the flight of the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS), said on Monday that the spaceship will deliver three times as much food as usual. Several months later, the Soyuz MS-23 will be used to return Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, whose mission has been prolonged for several months due to a coolant leak on Soyuz-22’s external radiator on December 15. After analyzing the situation, Russia’s state commission made a decision to bring the damaged Soyuz spacecraft back to Earth in a crewless mode and return the ISS crew onboard the Soyuz-23.