Two days after launching from Kazakhstan, the uncrewed Soyuz MS-23 is expected to autonomously dock to the Poisk module of the International Space Station.

This is a replacement for the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which suffered damage when a micrometeoroid stuck the vehicle’s external coolant line, causing it all to leak out.

Soyuz MS-22 had brought Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, as well as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, to the ISS for what was originally to be a six-month stay aboard the outpost.

Following the coolant leak, Roscosmos officials decided to launch Soyuz MS-23 to the ISS without a crew aboard in order to replace Soyuz MS-22. Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio will return to Earth in the new spacecraft sometime later in 2023, likely around late-summer.