The Russian space agency Roscosmos says it will launch the next scheduled Soyuz – an uncrewed mission – one month early.

• That’s so it can replace the leaking Soyuz capsule MS-22, currently docked at the International Space Station (ISS). That capsule carried three crew members to the ISS last September.
• But on December 15, 2022, a micrometeoroid – a tiny bit of rock in space – struck the MS-22. The particle pierced the capsule’s radiator, causing it to leak. So, the Soyuz capsule MS-22 has been out of action, its crew technically stranded until the replacement MS-23 arrives.
• The stranded crew members are: Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Demitri Petelin, and American astronaut Frank Rubio.
• MS-23 is scheduled to liftoff on February 20, 2023.