NASA officials are considering asking SpaceX for assistance in the event of an emergency that could leave astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) to be stranded following a coolant leak in a Russian spacecraft.
The space agency is already investigating the issue, which began in December, with the help of Russia's space agency. The affected spacecraft, the Soyuz capsule, was scheduled to bring two cosmonauts and one astronaut back to Earth in March.
NASA in Talks With SpaceX
Authorities from the space agency have reached out to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to see if it was possible to return three ISS crew members after the docked Russian spacecraft's leaked coolant incident.
On Friday, NASA said in a blog post that it had asked whether or not SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft was capable of facilitating the return of the spacemen in the event that an emergency was declared.
The primary focus of the current situation was to understand the post-leak capabilities of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, said the space agency. The spacecraft was scheduled to return the three crew members after bringing them to the ISS on Sept. 21, 2022, for a six-month mission, as per Yahoo News.
The three crew members were identified as cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, and one American astronaut, Frank Rubio. NASA and Roscosmos were working together to investigate the incident and determine their next steps.
In a statement on Dec. 28, 2022, a spokeswoman for NASA said that they have asked SpaceX a few questions regarding their capability to return additional crew members on Dragon if necessary. However, she added that that sort of situation was not the space agency's prime focus at the time.
The coolant leak on the Soyuz spacecraft was first detected when two Roscosmos cosmonauts were preparing to go on a spacewalk outside of the ISS. NASA also shared footage last month that showed the leak, which resembled white particles spraying out of the spacecraft that was docked to the ISS.
Russian Spacecraft Coolant Leak
According to CNET, the consideration of SpaceX to assist in the matter comes as the space company has launched a string of successful Crew Dragon missions to the ISS. However, it makes custom suits for its Dragon riders, so taking the three ISS crew members was not as simple as sending the spacecraft to the station.
Furthermore, any SpaceX-based rescue could also have a major impact on other scheduled ISS missions, such as the upcoming SpaceX Crew-6 mission that is set for an early 2023 launch. Another alternative is if the Soyuz capsule is deemed safe to use or if Russia sends a replacement Soyuz spacecraft.
While the cause of the coolant leak on the Soyuz spacecraft remains unknown, an inspection of camera footage revealed that a small hole could be the result of a micrometeoroid impact. The incident caused ammonia to spread around the ISS and NASA and Roscosmos deemed the spacecraft unsafe to transport the crew members back to Earth.
Since the early stages of the construction of the ISS, space agencies have made sure to have extra spacecraft docked to evacuate crew members if needed. It was also not unheard of for astronauts to take shelter in the vessels when the station has close calls with orbiting space debris, ExtremeTech reported.
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