Russia could launch of Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft ahead of time

Moscow, Mar 10 (Prensas Latina) The Roscosmos Russian space corporation assured that it would launch the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) in June, three months ahead of schedule.

March 10, 2023
08:31

According to Roscosmos, the initial date was September 15th, but given the need to bring back earlier Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopiev and Dimitri Petelin, and US astronaut Frank Rubio, the launch will most likely take place on June 7th.

The three crew members arrived at the ISS on September 21st, 2022 in the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft on a 188-day mission, which was set to conclude this year, at the end of March.

A micrometeor hit the Soyuz MS-22 in mid-December, damaging the ship’s cooling system.

Roscosmos reacted to the emergency by launching the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft on February 24th for the safe return of the aforementioned crew, which was rescheduled for September 27th.

Eleven crew members from Russia, the United States, Japan and the United Arab Emirates are currently on the ISS.

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