The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and SpaceX are gearing up for their seventh crewed launch to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX is currently the only company certified to fly astronauts to the ISS from U.S. soil, with the firm’s Crew Dragon vehicle, which is currently the only privately operated spacecraft for humans. SpaceX and NASA’s Crew-6 mission will take to the skies in late February, and it will launch when the pair and the Russian space agency are accommodating operations on the orbiting space laboratory after a leak on Russia’s Soyuz capsule.
NASA Official Describes How Agency and SpaceX Teamed Up In Response To Spacecraft Leak
The leak on the Soyuz spacecraft, which took place in mid-December has led to a shakeup on the ISS when it comes to returning the crew that had flown on the ship to the space station and having a backup for them in case of an emergency on the station. SpaceX is playing a crucial role in aiding both space agencies, especially since the Crew Dragon spacecraft can accommodate up to seven astronauts and cosmonauts combined – the maximum crew capacity of the ISS as well.
On this front, both SpaceX’s Sarah Walker and NASA’s Steve Stich shared crucial details about their efforts to use the Crew Dragon as a backup for the Soyuz – particularly if the space station has to be evacuated. According to Stich, this involved configuring the Crew Dragon spacecraft currently docked with the space station to accommodate seven crew members – a process that involved using a cargo strap from the Cargo Dragon part of SpaceX’s CRS-26 mission.
The Soyuz sprayed coolant into space in December 2022. Image: NASA
The NASA program manager explained:
Yeah I would say you know Joel said very well and when this first happened we started looking at, like we always do in spaceflight, okay what is available, what could work and so we figured out this cargo area might be about the right size to put a seat liner and a crew member down in this area. And then we went off and analyzed all the different things that we needed to have in place. Is the airflow acceptable? Can we maintain carbon dioxide scrubbing and all those sorts of things. Do we have enough Oxygen and supplies for them?
And we figured that was out, and then, you know, we looked at how would we position the seat liner as perfect to restrain the crew member in this area. To keep Frank safe. So we looked at taking some cargo straps from actually the CRS-26 vehicle. Those fit very well on the pallet. We were able to put the straps over Frank and then the seat liner if we needed to. And then secure him to the floor of the Dragon. And then we looked at is it going to be okay to land in this configuration? Should we do that? And we went and did all the kinds of analysis we do in terms of accelerations for the crew member. And those all came back acceptable and so we convinced ourselves it was a good posture to be in for this contingency as Joel said if we really would have to evacuate ISS. And then, you know, we could actually accommodate two more crew members in this cargo pallet area if we needed to.
The Soyuz docked with the space station will not return with any crew since its cabin temperature will be higher than nominal. However, Russia’s Sergei Krikalev explained that most of the equipment is still built with sufficient margins and the temperature will not exceed any tolerance levels. SpaceX’s Sarah Walker confirmed that the Crew Dragon is actually designed with a capacity of seven crew members.
Ms. Walker also shared details about SpaceX’s future plans for the Crew Dragon, outlining that:
So we actually have one more Crew Dragon vehicle in early stages of production now. We expect it to come online and enter the flight rotation late next year I believe. So that’ll bring us to a fleet total of three cargo vehicles and five crew vehicles. And, um, those are already certified for five flights each, and well underway through their qualification campaign to expand that much further. We expect fifteen flights for most components. So I think that will carry us well through the manifest that we see ahead of us.
The SpaceX-NASA Crew 6 mission is planned to liftoff on February 26 early in the morning at 02:07 eastern time. It will fly an international crew of four astronauts, with two from the U.S. and one each from Russia and the UAE.
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