NASA May Seek SpaceX’s Help to Bring Leaked Russian Capsule Crew to Earth | the world

NASA and Russia’s space agency Roscosmos are investigating the cause of a streak in an external radiator aboard Russia’s Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft, which is set to send its crew of two astronauts and an American astronaut back to Earth early next year.

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But Dec. 14 The leak depleted the Soyuz of a vital fluid used to regulate the crew’s room temperature, disrupting procedures aboard the Russian space station as engineers in Moscow studied whether to launch another Soyuz to retrieve the crew. ISS aboard the MS-22 craft.

If Russia is unable to launch another Soyuz capsule or for some reason decides not to, doing so would be too risky, NASA is evaluating another option. “We have asked SpaceX some questions about the ability to return additional crew members on Dragon if needed, but that is not our primary focus at this time,” NASA spokeswoman Sandra Jones said in a statement. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

It’s unclear what NASA specifically asked about the capabilities of SpaceX’s Dragon crew, such as whether the agency could find a way to increase crew capacity on the Dragon currently stationed at the station, or whether it could launch an empty capsule to rescue the crew.