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NASA is talking to SpaceX about the opportunity of utilizing a Crew Dragon spacecraft to convey residence three Worldwide House Station (ISS) astronauts who presently don’t have any journey again to Earth.
The Soyuz spacecraft that transported American Frank Rubio, and Russians Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin, to the ISS in September suffered a severe leak a few weeks in the past that noticed coolant spraying out from the Russian capsule.
NASA’s counterpart, Roscosmos, remains to be investigating the trigger and extent of the harm because it considers learn how to get the three crewmembers residence on or earlier than their scheduled departure date in March.
If the Soyuz passes security checks, it may nonetheless be used to convey the trio residence. Alternatively, Roscosmos could possibly ship an empty Soyuz to the ISS to gather them.
But when Roscosmos finds its personal options problematic, NASA may step in.
On Thursday it emerged that the U.S. house company has been consulting SpaceX on the concept of utilizing considered one of its Crew Dragon spacecraft to move Rubio, Prokopyev, and Petelin again to Earth.
“We have now requested SpaceX just a few questions on their functionality to return extra crew members on Dragon if obligatory, however that’s not our prime focus at the moment,” NASA spokeswoman Sandra Jones informed Reuters.
It’s not clear if NASA’s inquiry focuses on becoming extra seats to the Crew Dragon presently docked on the ISS; the spacecraft introduced 4 Crew-5 astronauts to the orbital outpost in October and isn’t resulting from return till March. It’s additionally potential NASA is thinking about getting SpaceX to ship an empty Crew Dragon to the ISS to rescue the three crewmembers.
Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov stated final week that the company has “no fears” in regards to the security of the crew.
Nevertheless, each NASA and Roscosmos will wish to resolve the difficulty as quickly as potential, because the ISS presently has just one emergency escape route — the docked Crew Dragon — ought to the station face a scenario during which all seven crewmembers should evacuate.
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