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NASA has been considering SpaceX for a backup plan to return the International Space Station crew to Earth amid the Soyuz escape.
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NASA and the Russian Space Agency are investigating the leak, which began in December.
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Two cosmonauts and one cosmonaut were due to return home in March in a Soyuz capsule.
NASA contacted Elon Musk’s SpaceX to see if it could fly three crew members back from the International Space Station (ISS) after a docked Russian spacecraft leaked.
American Space Agency he said In a blog post on Friday, he asked whether SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft had the ability to facilitate a return in an emergency.
The agency added that the main goal was to understand the post-spill capabilities of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft.
The Soyuz capsule was supposed to bring the three crew members back in March after their transfer to the International Space Station on Sept. 21 for a six-month mission. NASA. The crew consists of two cosmonauts, Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petlin, and the American astronaut Frank Rubio.
NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos have been working together to investigate the leak and determine next steps, according to the agency.
“We’ve asked SpaceX some questions about its ability to bring additional crew members back aboard Dragon if needed, but that’s not our primary focus at this time,” a NASA spokeswoman said in a statement. Reuters On December 28th.
NASA and SpaceX did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
The external leak was first detected in the Soyuz capsule when two Roscosmos astronauts were preparing for a spacewalk. NASA he said on Dec. 14.
screenshots Reciprocal A NASA report in December showed the leak, which looks like white particles, sprayed from the Soyuz spacecraft, which is docked with the International Space Station.
Roscosmos said on Dec. 22 that it was considering a “rescue” mission to return crew members to Earth ahead of schedule. Reuters reported. This will involve flying an empty spacecraft to the International Space Station to collect them, according to the report.
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