Rescue spacecraft arrives at International Space Station

By Dean Murray via SWNS

The rescue spacecraft for three stranded astronauts has arrived at the International Space Station (ISS).

The uncrewed Soyuz MS-23 arrived at ISS's Poisk module on Feb. 26 at 12:58 a.m. UK time, as the space station was flying 260 miles above northern Mongolia.

The craft had been launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

This new Soyuz will replace the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft following a radiator coolant leak on 14 December.

The Soyuz MS-22 transported NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin to the space station last September.

The three crew members will return to Earth on the new Soyuz MS-23 later this year.

The damaged Soyuz MS-22 is scheduled to undock from the station in late March and return to Earth for an uncrewed parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan, and post-flight analysis by Roscosmos.

Soyuz was also delivering 946 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station.