Will NASA trust Musk’s SpaceX?
NASA could use a SpaceX spacecraft, Elon Musk's aerospace company, to transport three crew members from the ISS to if it were not possible via Soyuz
NASA is considering using SpaceX, the only company that can currently carry astronauts into space from American soil, as a backup to the Soyuz mission.
The US agency is considering using SpaceX to return three astronauts to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) after the Russian spacecraft suffered a significant coolant leak, Reuters revealed. Last December 15, around two in the morning Italian time, the pressure sensors in the cooling circuit of the Soyuz spacecraft detected lower than normal values. Representatives from NASA and Roscosmos said on a press conference call last week that investigations into the cause of the leak were still ongoing.
Officials are still assessing the situation and will decide whether the Soyuz craft will be able to safely return Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dimitri Petelin, as well as NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, to Earth in March. With a broken cooling system, the capsule may not be safe for humans as it re-enters our atmosphere.
Moscow says that if a rescue Soyuz were needed, it could only arrive in February, two or three weeks before the scheduled return in March.
"The company's potential involvement in a Russian-led mission underscores the degree of precaution NASA is taking to ensure its astronauts can safely return to Earth, should one of Russia's other contingency plans fail," he comments. Reuters .
It is currently possible that three astronauts may not have safe passage home.
All the details.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE RUSSIAN SPACE SOYUZ MS-22
The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft carried NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin into space after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 21 September.
But on December 15, the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft suffered a coolant leak while docked with the International Space Station (ISS). From the first investigations conducted by NASA and Roscosmos it is not yet clear what caused the leak, further analyzes will be needed to understand if the problem is due to an impact or a failure. This is what emerges while the activities on board the ISS have gradually returned to normal.
NASA CONSIDERS SPACEX TO RETURN CREW TO EARTH
Meanwhile, NASA is considering how to transport the crew in the event that the three astronauts become stranded on the ISS without a ride home. Station guests could board a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, NASA spokeswoman Sandra Jones has suggested.
“We asked SpaceX a few questions about their ability to carry additional crew members to Dragon if needed,” Jones told Reuters on Dec. 28.
It is not clear whether a replacement Dragon capsule will fly to the ISS to pick up the three astronauts, or if they will be able to go back on the Crew Dragon Endurance shuttle, which on behalf of NASA brought the four members to the International Space Station (ISS) last October of the Crew-5 mission: the first Russian astronaut on an American shuttle for 20 years, Anna Kikina, the first female commander of a commercial flight and the first Native American in space, Nicole Aunapu Mann, the veteran of the Japanese space agency Koichi Wakata and NASA astronaut Josh Cassada.
THE ISSUES AROUND THE DRAGON CAPSULE
The Dragon capsule the four boarded, called Endeavour, isn't large enough to bring both teams back to our planet, so multiple trips would still be needed to ferry all seven. There's yet another problem: all astronauts traveling on a Dragon spacecraft have to wear custom-made SpaceX spacesuits, and the crew that arrived at the space station in the Soyuz are not suitably equipped.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/la-nasa-si-affidera-a-spacex-di-musk/ on Sat, 31 Dec 2022 06:53:52 +0000.