SPACE reported that NASA “might use a SpaceX spacecraft to rescue three space station crew members depending on a leaky Soyuz to get home, a report suggests.” The Soyuz spacecraft “on the International Space Station suffered a severe coolant leak on Dec. 15 and a decision about whether it is safe to send the crew back to Earth on it will come in January, Russia has said.” If a rescue “Soyuz craft is needed[,] it could only come in February, two or three weeks before the normal changeover in March.” NASA apparently is “considering using SpaceX, the only company currently flying astronauts into space from American soil, as a backup if these options don’t work out.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Tag: May send
Russian Space Agency May Send Rescue Spacecraft to Space Station
The Washington Post reports that Roscomos, the Russian space agency, is “deciding whether it needs to send a rescue spacecraft to the International Space Station to bring home two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut after the Soyuz capsule that brought them there suffered a massive coolant leak.” According to the Post, “Working with their counterparts at NASA, officials at Roscosmos…are trying to determine if the vehicle is sound enough to bring the crew home. … If not, the Russian agency would send up another Soyuz spacecraft that was to be used for another crewed mission to retrieve the crew.” The Post adds that spacecraft “could be ready to fly up without any people on board sometime in February, a few weeks before the crew is set to return in March.”
Full Story (Washington Post)