NASA may use a SpaceX spacecraft to rescue three area station crew members relying on a leaky Soyuz to get house, a report suggests.
The Soyuz spacecraft on the International Space Station suffered a extreme coolant leak on Dec. 15 and a choice about whether or not it’s protected to ship the crew again to Earth on it’ll come in January, Russia has stated. If a rescue Soyuz craft is required it may solely come in February, two or three weeks earlier than the traditional changeover in March.
NASA is seemingly contemplating utilizing SpaceX, the one firm at the moment flying astronauts into area from American soil, as a backup if these choices do not work out.
“Now we have requested SpaceX a number of questions on their functionality to return further crew members on Dragon if needed, however that’s not our prime focus at the moment,” NASA spokesperson Sandra Jones said in a statement to Reuters (opens in new tab), revealed Wednesday (Dec. 28). SpaceX didn’t reply to Reuters requests for remark.
Associated: Hole in leaky Soyuz spacecraft not caused by Geminid meteor
NASA didn’t make clear with Reuters what choices with SpaceX is likely to be potential, equivalent to whether or not the corporate may launch a backup Crew Dragon spacecraft to choose up the crew, or add extra seats to the prevailing Dragon (known as Endeavour) docked on the area station.
All seats on Endeavour are nominally full, as it’s imagined to bear house Crew-5 in early 2023, together with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina.
The crew that was utilizing the affected Soyuz, known as MS-22, contains Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, every of whom got here to area in a Russian Sokol spacesuit. Usually, SpaceX solely launches crew members who’ve been fitted for a custom-made SpaceX spacesuit. How this difficulty could be overcome was additionally not addressed within the report.
Associated: How SpaceX’s sleek spacesuit changes astronaut fashion from the space shuttle era
The reason for the leak on Soyuz MS-22 has not but been decided, nevertheless it may originate from area particles or a micrometeroid that was unable to be tracked because of the small dimension. Comply with-up scans of the Soyuz confirmed a hole in its radiator exterior.
The ISS crew is in no rapid hazard from the scenario, however the concern comes if the complicated needed to be evacuated for no matter cause, as in the meanwhile, it’s potential that three people don’t have any protected experience house.
Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of “Why Am I Taller (opens in new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a guide about area drugs. Comply with her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Facebook (opens in new tab).
