Soyuz MS-23: Russia launches substitute spacecraft for astronauts after coolant leak

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Russia launched a Soyuz spacecraft that will replace a capsule that sprang a coolant leak in December, leaving two cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut without a ride home.

Liftoff of the capsule, called the Soyuz MS-23, took place out of Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome launch site in Kazakhstan on Thursday at 7:24 p.m. ET, which is 5:24 a.m. Friday local time.

The uncrewed spacecraft will spend about two days in orbit, maneuvering toward the International Space Station It’s expected to dock with the Poisk module — which is on the space station’s Russian-run portion — just after 8 p.m. ET Saturday.

The Soyuz MS-23 will be the return vehicle for cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut…

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