A SpaceX Dragon capsule is being modified on orbit to hold an additional astronaut house to Earth if want be.
On Wednesday (Jan. 18), NASA plans to begin shifting company astronaut Frank Rubio’s seat liner from a Russian Soyuz spacecraft over to Endurance, the Dragon spacecraft that is flying SpaceX‘s ongoing Crew-5 mission for NASA.
Each autos are docked to the International Space Station (ISS). The Soyuz, often known as MS-22, lost its coolant last month after struggling an obvious micrometeoroid or particles strike and has been deemed unfit to return astronauts to Earth besides in case of emergency. Russia plans to launch an uncrewed Soyuz to the orbiting lab on Feb. 20 to carry the MS-22 crew — Rubio and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin — again all the way down to Earth.
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MS-22 may nonetheless be pressed into service as a lifeboat if one thing unhealthy occurs to the ISS earlier than the subsequent Soyuz’s arrival, nonetheless. And that is the place the seat-liner transfer is available in: It is safer for MS-22 to hold simply two astronauts down as an alternative of three, given its hobbled state.
“The change permits for elevated crew safety by decreasing the warmth load contained in the MS-22 spacecraft for cosmonauts Prokopyev and Petelin within the occasion of an emergency return to Earth,” NASA officers wrote in an update on Friday (opens in new tab) (Jan. 13).
Endurance launched in October 2022 with simply 4 seats put in, as a result of Crew-5 consists of 4 astronauts — NASA’s Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese spaceflyer Koichi Wakata and Russia’s Anna Kikina. However Dragon capsules are designed to hold as much as seven folks, so Endurance has the space to accommodate Rubio as effectively if want be.
MS-22 launched to the ISS in September for a deliberate six-month mission. However Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin will possible find yourself staying in orbit for twice that lengthy.
“The plan is for Frank and Dimitri and Sergey to remain on board for a number of extra months till they arrive house, most likely [in] late September,” Dina Contella, NASA’s ISS operations integration supervisor, stated throughout a press convention on Tuesday (Jan. 17).
“We’re trying on the actual timing of that, however at this level, that might be when the automobile can be deliberate to come back house,” she stated.
The mission extension for the MS-22 crew is defined by the truth that the subsequent Soyuz will launch uncrewed to carry them house. If Rubio, Prokopyev and Petelin returned to Earth in March on this new automobile, the ISS can be understaffed till a crewed Soyuz might be readied for liftoff.
SpaceX’s Crew-6 mission is about to launch subsequent month, carrying 4 extra astronauts to the ISS. However Crew-5 will return to Earth a couple of days after the newcomers come aboard.
Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a e book in regards to the seek for alien life. Observe him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
