Roscosmos Details Unmanned Return of Soyuz MS-22 and MS-23 Relocation

State Corporation Roscosmos has scheduled the damaged Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft to return to Earth in unmanned mode on March 28, as stated in a government company website post. The message notes that cosmonauts are loading the lifted cargo in the maintenance bay of the Soyuz MS-22 and preparing the returning cargo for the landing craft. In parallel, reports indicate that the Russian segment of the International Space Station is departing the Rassvet small research module at 12:57 Moscow time, with landing planned at 14:00 Moscow time near the Kazakh city of Zhezhkazgan. The Soyuz MS-22 craft is expected to carry about 218 kilograms of cargo, primarily scientific experiment results and station equipment destined for analysis or reuse. Earlier government reports described the crew of the malfunctioning Soyuz MS-22 on the ISS beginning the process of transferring their seats to the new Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft. Roscosmos explained that cosmonauts were starting to relocate their accommodations from the manned Soyuz MS-22 to the unmanned Soyuz MS-23. On March 2, Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin were scheduled to move from the seats on the Soyuz MS-22 to positions on the Soyuz MS-23, marking a transition between vehicles as part of the ongoing contingency operations.