Names | ISS 68S |
---|---|
Mission type | ISS crew transport |
Operator | Roscosmos |
COSPAR ID | 2022-116A |
SATCAT no. | 53879 |
Mission duration | 187 days, 21 hours and 52 minutes |
Orbits completed | 2,914 |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft | Soyuz MS-22 No. 751 |
Spacecraft type | Soyuz MS |
Manufacturer | Energia |
Launch mass | 7,080 kg (15,610 lb) |
Crew | |
Crew size | 3 up, 0 down |
Launching | |
Callsign | Altai |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | 21 September 2022, 13:54:50 UTC [1] |
Rocket | Soyuz 2.1a |
Launch site | Baikonur, 31/6 |
Contractor | RKTs Progress |
End of mission | |
Landing date | 28 March 2023, 11:45:58 UTC |
Landing site | Kazakh Steppe, Kazakhstan |
Orbital parameters | |
Reference system | Geocentric orbit |
Regime | Low Earth orbit |
Inclination | 51.66° |
Docking with ISS | |
Docking port | Rassvet nadir |
Docking date | 21 September 2022, 17:06:34 UTC |
Undocking date | 28 March 2023, 09:57:27 UTC |
Time docked | 187 days, 16 hours and 51 minutes |
Payload | |
Down Cargo | |
Mass | ~218 kg (481 lb) |
Pressurised | ~218 kg (481 lb) |
Launching mission insignia From left: Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin |
Soyuz MS-22 was a Russian Soyuz spaceflight to the International Space Station with a crew of three launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 21 September 2022. The launch, previously planned for 13 September 2022, was subsequently delayed to 21 September 2022 for a mission length of 188 days. [2]
The original three-Russian member crew was named in May 2021. American astronaut Francisco Rubio replaced Anna Kikina as a part of the Soyuz-Dragon crew swap system of keeping at least one NASA astronaut and one Roscosmos cosmonaut on each of the crew rotation missions. This allows continuous space station occupation by US and Russia and keep backup crew scenarios to prevent vehicle either vehicle grounding like Soyuz MS-10 launch failure or to compensate for delays in launch of crew rotation missions of either vehicles like SpaceX Crew-3, that was delayed due to unfavorable launch weather conditions. [3]
Position | Launching Crew member | Landing Crew member |
---|---|---|
Commander | Sergey Prokopyev, Roscosmos Expedition 67/68/69 Second spaceflight | None |
Flight Engineer 1 | Dmitry Petelin, Roscosmos Expedition 67/68/69 First spaceflight | None |
Flight Engineer 2 | Francisco Rubio, NASA Expedition 67/68/69 First spaceflight | None |
Position | Crew member | |
---|---|---|
Commander | Oleg Kononenko, Roscosmos | |
Flight Engineer 1 | Nikolai Chub, Roscosmos | |
Flight Engineer 2 | Loral O'Hara, NASA |
The spacecraft is named in honor of Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who is today considered one of the fathers of modern rocketry and astronautics. Tsiolkovsky's 165th birthday fell on 17 September, a few days before the launch of MS-22. [4]
On 15 December 2022 at 12:45 UTC, a "visible stream of flakes" was observed emanating from the Soyuz spacecraft, concurrent with a loss of pressure in the external radiator cooling loop. [5] A scheduled spacewalk for Petelin and Prokopyev was cancelled while the incident was evaluated. [6]
The leak in the radiator occurred due to a micro-meteorite impact. The damage left a 0.8 mm diameter (0.031 in) hole into the external cooling radiator on the service module. [7]
Two working groups were formed to find the cause of the incident, analyze the technical condition of the ship and develop recommendations for further actions for ground specialists and the cosmonauts. [8]
According to tests conducted on the ship's systems, the temperature in the orbital and descent modules in the first days after the incident reached 30 °C (86 °F), and in the service module 40 °C (104 °F), but by January 2023, the temperature in the whole ship had stabilized at about 30 °C.
In December 2022, the outer surface of Soyuz MS-22 was examined using the cameras of the European Robotic Arm and Canadarm2. [9] The analysis of the data received on Earth allowed engineers to detect a possible place of damage on the surface of the service module.
In February 2023, days before undocking, Progress MS-21 encountered a similar problem with coolant pressure leak. [10]
As Soyuz MS-22 was unable to perform crew return, it returned uncrewed (like Soyuz 32). MS-23 was launched uncrewed on 24 February 2023 to function as a replacement, bringing back the crew in September 2023 (similar to Soyuz 34). At that point, the crew spent a year in space. The original crew mission of MS-23 was delayed and reassigned to the MS-24 mission. [11] [12] Thus, some dry cargo and equipment weighing 218 kg (481 lb) was brought back on the uncrewed return of Soyuz MS-22. Temperatures probably reached 50 °C (122 °F) on landing, more favourable than the worst emergency crewed landing scenario studied, as reported by the mission control team. More details were published later after analysis. [13]
Until the replacement MS-23 docked to ISS, NASA and Roscosmos considered sending the MS-22 crew home with SpaceX Crew-5 in case of emergency. This is due to the fact that SpaceX originally designed the Crew Dragon to host a crew of seven. Accordingly, the International Space Station mission management team decided to move NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio's Soyuz seat liner from the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft to Crew Dragon Endurance in order to provide lifeboat capabilities for Rubio. The seat liner was moved on 17 January 2023, with installation and configuration continuing through most of the following day. Seat liner swapping is not new between two Soyuz capsules, but was performed for the first time from Soyuz to Crew Dragon. [14] The change allowed for increased crew protection by reducing the heat load inside the MS-22 spacecraft for cosmonauts Prokopyev and Petelin in the event of an emergency return to Earth. Alongside SpaceX Crew-6 space capsule is designed to bring back crew serving as a emergency evacuation after Crew-5. [15]
MS-23 arrived and docked to the ISS on 26 February 2023. [16] After the spacecraft docked, the seat liners for Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin were moved from MS-22 to MS-23 on 2 March ahead of their return in the Soyuz. Rubio's seat liner was transferred from Crew Dragon to the new Soyuz on 6 March. [14]
Nauka, also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module, Upgrade, is the primary laboratory of the Russian Orbital Segment of the International Space Station (ISS). Serving alongside the Rassvet and Poisk mini-research modules, Nauka conducts scientific experiments and stores research equipment.
Sergey Nikolayevich Ryzhikov, lieutenant colonel of Russian Air Force, is a Russian cosmonaut, selected in 2006. He is a veteran of two long duration space flights to the ISS.
Anatoli Alekseyevich Ivanishin is a former Russian cosmonaut. His first visit to space was to the International Space Station on board the Soyuz TMA-22 spacecraft as an Expedition 29/Expedition 30 crew member, launching in November 2011 and returning in April 2012. Ivanishin was the commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 49.
Anna Yuryevna Kikina is a Russian engineer and cosmonaut, selected in 2012. She is the only female cosmonaut currently in active service at Roscosmos. She made her first flight to space in 2023 to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX Crew-5, the first Roscosmos cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft since 2002. During her time on the ISS, Kikina served as a flight engineer during the long-duration Expedition 68 mission.
Sergey Valeryevich Prokopyev is a Russian cosmonaut. On June 6, 2018, he launched on his first flight into space aboard Soyuz MS-09 and spent 197 days in space as a flight engineer on Expedition 56/57. On September 21, 2022, he launched aboard Soyuz MS-22 and returned onboard Soyuz MS-23 on September 27, 2023.
Francisco Carlos "Frank" Rubio is an American flight surgeon, US Army colonel and helicopter pilot, and NASA astronaut. He holds the American record for the longest spaceflight at 371 days.
Soyuz MS-14 was a Soyuz spaceflight to the International Space Station. It carried no crew members, as it was intended to test a modification of the launch abort system for integration with the Soyuz-2.1a launch vehicle. It launched successfully on 22 August 2019 at 03:38 UTC. It was the first mission of the Soyuz crew vehicle without a crew in 33 years, and the first-ever unpiloted mission of Soyuz to the ISS.
Soyuz MS-18 was a Soyuz spaceflight that was launched on 9 April 2021 at 07:42:41 UTC. It transported three members of the Expedition 64 crew to the International Space Station (ISS). Soyuz MS-18 was the 146th crewed flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. The launching crew consisted of a Russian commander, a Russian flight engineer, and an American flight engineer of NASA. The spacecraft returned to Earth on 17 October 2021 following 191 days in space. The flight served as the landing vehicle for the Russian film director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild who launched to the ISS aboard Soyuz MS-19 and spent twelve days in space in order to film a movie, Vyzov.
Soyuz MS-19 was a Soyuz spaceflight which launched on 5 October 2021, at 08:55:02 UTC. It was the 147th flight of a crewed Soyuz spacecraft. The launching crew consisted of Russian commander Anton Shkaplerov, Russian film director Klim Shipenko and Russian actress Yulia Peresild. Shipenko and Peresild spent about twelve days on the International Space Station before returning to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-18, while filming a movie in space, The Challenge. The MS-18 flight launched two crew members of the Expedition 66. Without an American astronaut, this launch marked the first time in more than 21 years that a Soyuz crew only included Russian cosmonauts and travelers and the ship had to be upgraded to be piloted by a single person at launch. This is also the first mission to the ISS with an entirely Russian crew.
Progress MS-18, Russian production No. 447, identified by NASA as Progress 79P, was a Progress spaceflight operated by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). This was the 170th flight of a Progress spacecraft.
Expedition 68 was the 68th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began upon the departure of Soyuz MS-21 on 29 September 2022 with ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti taking over as ISS commander and ended upon the uncrewed departure of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft on 28 March 2023.
Andrey Valerievich Fedyaev is a Russian cosmonaut.
SpaceX Crew-5 was the fifth operational NASA Commercial Crew Program flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the eighth overall crewed orbital flight. The mission was successfully launched on 5 October 2022 with the aim of transporting four crew members to the International Space Station (ISS). The Crew Dragon spacecraft docked at the ISS on 6 October 2022 at 21:01 UTC.
Soyuz MS-23 was an uncrewed Russian Soyuz spaceflight that launched from Baikonur on 24 February 2023 to the International Space Station to replace the damaged Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft for landing that NASA astronaut Francisco Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin launched onboard on 21 September 2022 and had a coolant leak on 14 December before returning to Earth uncrewed on 28 March 2023.
Progress MS-21, Russian production No.451, identified by NASA as Progress 82P, was a Progress spaceflight launched by Roscosmos to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). It was the 174th flight of a Progress spacecraft.
Expedition 69 was the 69th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the uncrewed departure of Soyuz MS-22 in March 2023 with Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev continuing his ISS command from Expedition 68. It ended with his departure with his crewmates onboard Soyuz MS-23 on 27 September 2023.
Expedition 70 was the 70th long-duration expedition to the International Space Station. The expedition began with the departure of Soyuz MS-23 on 27 September 2023 with Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen taking over the ISS command. It ended with the departure of Soyuz MS-24 on 6 April 2024.