Emergency situation at the ISS. NASA will save its astronaut leaving two Russians in orbit
Subscribe to not miss the latest and most intrusive news from the world of science! In the event of an emergency at the International Space Station, a rescue boat for astronauts will be the SpaceX Dragon Space ship, which is located here, under the name Endurance. NASA has decided to start the transformation of the inner space of this ship by moving an additional passenger seat. This seat will be removed from the Russian ship "Union MS-22", which is also national with the ISS.
This seat belongs to the American astronaut Frank Rubio, who arrived on the Russian ship in orbit along with two Russians Sergei Prokopiev and Dmitry Petelin. So, at Endang will be able to fly to Earth not 4, but 5 astronauts, if any emergency at the space station. The whole story with the rescue of astronauts from the ISS began in mid -December after the Ship "Soyuz" was an accident, as focus has already wrote.
After analyzing the current situation, both NASA and Roscomos decided that this ship could not be used to return Rubio, Petelin and Prokopiev to the ground. This can only be done in the event of an accident at the station. In Russia, the decision was made, as focus has already written, to send the unmanned spacecraft "Union MS-23" to the ISS on February 20 to deliver three astronauts home.
But before this spacecraft fly into orbit, the ISS may occur, although it is unlikely, but such events in NASA do not exclude, given the age of the station. If the accident still happens, then only 2 astronauts, that is, Russians, will be able to reach the Earth on the damaged ship. The fact is that after the accident in the Union cooling system, which was caused, as it turned out, the blow of micrometeorite is the safest to place only two people here.
The Endurance spacecraft flew to the ISS in October last year and delivered two Americans, one Japanese and Russian to the station. But the Dragon Ships allow you to deliver 7 people to space, so there is a place for Frank Rubio here. But NASA says that it is possible to Rubio, a pethine and Prokopiev will have to stay on the ISS much longer, and a new Russian ship will simply serve as a rescue boat.