Space: Why did Russia send a rescue ship to the International Space Station?

A Soyuz rescue vehicle, sent by Russia, docked overnight from Saturday to Sunday at the International Space Station (ISS). For any reason ?

Russia was pleased to see its rescue ship docked nightly from Saturday to Sunday at the International Space Agency (ISS). This should be used to bring home two Russian cosmonauts and one American astronaut next September.

Moscow explained that their first ship, the MS-22, which was to be used when they returned to Earth, had already been damaged by a major leak last December, possibly caused by the impact of a small meteorite. The authorities considered that from now on it should only be used in emergency situations and replaced by a new transport, the MS-23.

He had lifted off Friday morning from Kazakhstan without anyone on board, and thus arrived at the space station after a flight of about two days.

And the American Frank Rubio, as well as the Russians Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petline, who took off at the end of September 2022, will be allowed to return after spending about a year in space.

The damaged MS-22 ship must be ejected from the International Space Station and returned to Earth empty, in advance of the end of next month.

In addition to the three crew members who came aboard the Soyuz, the International Space Station currently has four other passengers, who arrived with the SpaceX ship and are members of a mission called Crew-5. They are due to be joined next week by Crew-6, which includes two Americans, an Emirati and a Russian, and is scheduled to take off from Sunday night to Monday from Florida in the United States.

After delivery for a few days, Crew-5 will descend to Earth.