On December 15th, NASA and its astronauts faced a scary situation when AJ The Russian Soyuz spacecraft docks with the International Space Station, causing a coolant leak, just before the start of a spacewalk by a pair of Russian cosmonauts. The crew are safe and in no immediate danger, but the two astronauts and a NASA cosmonaut are expected to use the Soyuz spacecraft to return to Earth early next year. With the spacecraft in limbo, NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, are trying to figure out their options for moving forward.
To that end, NASA is considering a contingency plan: use the SpaceX Crew Dragon mission to effectively rescue stranded astronauts over the next few months.
“The International Space Station team continues to convene regarding the Soyuz MS-22 external cooling loop leak,” a NASA spokesperson told The Daily Beast in an emailed statement. NASA and Roscosmos will continue to examine joint options before making a final decision on how to safely return the crew home. The Expedition 68 crew is still in good shape performing maintenance and research work.
“We’ve also asked SpaceX a few questions about their ability to bring other crew members back to Dragon if needed, but that’s not our primary focus at this time.”
SpaceX did not respond to The Daily Beast’s requests for comment.
It’s unclear exactly what SpaceX’s mission is. The Crew Dragon spacecraft (called Endeavor) is docked with the International Space Station, and in theory more seats could be added to the mission when it is due to return to Earth next year. But this mission was filled with four people: NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Kasada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos astronaut Anna Kikina.
Another option is for NASA to prioritize the launch of the new SpaceX Crew Dragon to the International Space Station specifically to pick up three crew members due to return to the Soyuz: NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petlin.
The cooling loss means that the Soyuz capsule is currently experiencing a significant increase in temperature. NASA said the capsule’s temperature remained “within acceptable limits” and was cooled by the allowed flow of air vented from the open hatch throughout the International Space Station. But it’s almost impossible to imagine that the capsule could be used to bring humans back to Earth.
The cause of Soyuz’s loss is still unknown. The investigation found a hole on the outside of the cooler, which may have been caused by a micrometeorite or a small chip orbital debris. It can also be caused by hardware damage, which will only lead to further investigation Error in Roscosmos grow room.
