Spaceship to replace damaged Soyuz MS-22 may be launched by Feb 19

MOSCOW. Dec 19 (Interfax) - The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft may be rapidly prepared and sent to the International Space Station (ISS) by February 19, if necessary, Roscosmos head Yury Borisov said.

"If the situation takes another trajectory, we have some back-up options. We will prepare the spaceship [Soyuz MS-23] faster, instead of the scheduled March launch, we will prepare it by around February 19," Borisov said in an interview published in the Izvestia newspaper on Monday.

He added that the Soyuz MS-22 would simply be undocked and brought down to the Earth, and a second spacecraft would be sent to pick up the crew.

The state corporation said on Monday that there was no need for the emergency evacuation of cosmonauts from the ISS.