On February 26, 2023 at 00:58 UTC the Russian "Soyuz MS-23” uncrewed spacecraft docked with the Russian “Poisk” module of the International Space Station.

The human-rated crew spaceship flew to the station without anyone on-board, an unusual step for Russia’s space program, to replace a damaged Soyuz (“Soyuz MS-22”) spacecraft that was supposed to bring home Russian commander Sergey Prokopyev, cosmonaut Dmitri Petelin, and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio next month. But the Soyuz (“Soyuz MS-22”) that launched Prokopyev’s crew in September 2022 sprung a coolant leak on December 14, 2022 spewing frozen flakes of fluid from its radiator into space after what Russian officials determined was likely an impact from a tiny fragment of rock from deep space, called a micrometeoroid.

Russian space officials decided to move forward the launch of the next Soyuz spacecraft by a month to late February to replace the damaged “Soyuz MS-22” spacecraft. Russian engineers deemed the damaged Soyuz MS-22 vehicle safe enough to use, if needed, for an emergency evacuation of the space station, but not for a regularly-scheduled undocking and landing. Officials were concerned about overheating of avionics and other internal components of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, with its disabled cooling system. Prokopyev, Petelin, and Rubio had their six-month expedition on the space station extended to last more than a year. Instead of returning on the damaged Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft in late March, they will re-enter the atmosphere and land aboard the newly-arrived “Soyuz MS-23” spacecraft in September 2023, following the launch of the next Soyuz crew to take their place on the orbiting outpost.