The Soyuz MS-23 crew ship docking to the Prichal module on the Earth-facing side of the International Space Station. Credit: NASA TV
The Soyuz MS-23, with Expedition 69 crew members Frank Rubio of NASAEstablished in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the United States Federal Government that succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It is responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. Its vision is "To discover and expand knowledge for the benefit of humanity." Its core values are "safety, integrity, teamwork, excellence, and inclusion." NASA conducts research, develops technology and launches missions to explore and study Earth, the solar system, and the universe beyond. It also works to advance the state of knowledge in a wide range of scientific fields, including Earth and space science, planetary science, astrophysics, and heliophysics, and it collaborates with private companies and international partners to achieve its goals.” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>NASA, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin aboard, has successfully docked to the Prichal module on the Earth-facing side of the International Space Station on April 6, 2023, at 5:22 a.m. EDTEDT is an abbreviation for Eastern Daylight Time, the time zone for the eastern coast of the United States and Canada when observing daylight saving time (spring/summer). It is four hours behind Coordinated Universal Time. New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston, and the Kennedy Space Center are in the Eastern Time Zone (ET).” data-gt-translate-attributes=”[{“attribute”:”data-cmtooltip”, “format”:”html”}]”>EDT.
The Soyuz MS-23 crew ship slowly backs away from the station carrying three Expedition 69 crewmates to a new docking port. Credit: NASA TV
Around 30 minutes earlier, the Soyuz MS-23 undocked from the Poisk module on the space-facing side of the complex with the three crew members aboard. Prokopyev, the Soyuz commander, manually flew the spacecraft away from Poisk for its redocking to Prichal. He was strapped into the descent module of the Soyuz with Petelin seated to his left and Rubio to his right. They successfully flew around the ISS and made their way to redock to the Prichal module on the Earth-facing side of the outpost.
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The Roscosmos Soyuz MS-23 undocked from the Poisk module on the International Space Station and relocated for a docking to the Prichal module on April 6. Aboard the Soyuz for the brief flight were NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Dimitri Petelin and Soyuz commander Sergey Prokopyev. The maneuver opened the Poisk docking port for the arrival of the Progress 84 resupply vehicle that will launch later this spring. MS-23 launched uncrewed on February 24 to replace the damaged Soyuz MS-22 which undocked and returned to Earth on March 28. Credit: NASA
This was the 26th spacecraft relocation in space station history. The move makes room for the arrival of the uncrewed Roscosmos Progress 84 cargo spacecraft later this year and frees the Poisk airlock for the upcoming Roscosmos spacewalks in April and May.
The Soyuz MS-23 crew ship with three Expedition 69 crewmates aboard is pictured shortly after docking to the Prichal docking module. Credit: NASA TV
Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin are scheduled to return to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft upon undocking on September 27.
Source: SciTechDaily
