Soyuz LV with Progress MS-23 resupply ship cleared for launch - Roscosmos

MOSCOW. May 24 (Interfax) - A state commission cleared a Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying the Progress MS-23 resupply ship for launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, May 24, Russia's Roscosmos state corporation said.

"A Baikonur state commission has permitted fueling of the Soyuz-2.1a rocket," Roscosmos said on Telegram.

The Soyuz-2.1a rocket with Progress MS-23 will be launched from Baikonur Area 31 at 3:56 p.m. Moscow time on Wednesday.

The spacecraft will take a two-orbit path and reach the ISS in approximately three hours and 25 minutes. It will dock with the Poisk module of the ISS's Russian segment at 7:21 p.m. Roscosmos said Progress MS-23 would stay in orbit for around six months.

"Progress MS-23 will supply the ISS with 2,491 kilograms of cargo, including 499 kilograms of fuel for the station, 630 kilograms of drinking water, 40 kilograms of nitrogen, and 1,322 kilograms of equipment, tools, expendables and research kits, clothes, food and hygienic products for ISS Expedition 69.

It will also deliver a universal work station to be installed outside the Zvezda service module of the ISS's Russian segment during a spacewalk.

Currently, the ISS has a crew of 11, including Expedition 69 comprising Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Andrei Fedyayev, NASA astronauts Francisco Rubio, Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg, and UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi. Four space tourists arrived at the ISS on May 22 via a Crew Dragon spacecraft. They will spend eight days working together with the permanent crew.