International Space Station crew swaps ‘mission critical’ Soyuz capsule parking spot

Yesterday’s Soyuz flight is critical to clear the Zvezda docking port ahead of today’s arrival of the new Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft.

Roscosmos launched the unmanned Soyuz MS-14 on August 22 during a test flight of an upgraded Soyuz 2.1a rocket.

The Soyuz was scheduled to dock itself at the ISS’ Poisk module on Saturday, but aborted when its automated Kurs navigation system failed to lock on to the docking port.

The Soyuz has been following behind the International Space Station ever since, while the next docking attempt is prepared.

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