Rocket Report: Blue Origin explosion still making headlines; Impulse raises money

NASA expects to begin stacking the SLS rocket this summer for next year's Artemis III launch.

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[EllPeaTea]

Statement from Bethany Stevens on the twitters about the ISS situation.

The Zvezda service module transfer tunnel, known as PrK, has suffered from cracks and leaks for some time, and has been mitigated by Roscosmos as much as possible to date. The cracks have always been a concern that NASA watches very closely. NASA and Roscosmos have been working to determine the root cause of the cracks, and Roscosmos manages the issue through operational mitigation measures and periodic partial-repair efforts.


Following new leaks, Roscosmos has elected to proceed with a more extensive repair operation on Friday, June 5. Out of an abundance of caution, NASA has directed all four of the agency's SpaceX Crew-12 members and NASA astronaut Chris Williams to assume an elevated safety posture in the Dragon spacecraft while the repair is underway.


We continue to work with our Russian counterparts, along with the rest of the international community that supports the space station, to arrive at a more permanent resolutio

 

[EllPeaTea]

Well, he couldn't have come home in the Dragon, no seat. I assume he actually was in the Soyuz and, if evacuation had been necessary, the cosmonauts would have joined him there and piloted it home. Even in a worst case scenario. it would have taken some time to depressurize the station and the two Russians would have been able to board their spacecraft.

They probably could jerry-rig something. NASA has experience planning for such, after Frank Rubio and Butch and Suni. I think they may now be leaving a fifth Dragon IVA suit on station as a matter of course.

 

[EllPeaTea]

What ever happened to crew dragon seating 7, was that just a fiction my brain invented?

That was part of the original design. But NASA only want to ferry 4 people at a time. The extra space is used for more cargo on crew flights. SpaceX have only ever installed 4 seats, and there are only 4 hookups installed for the IVA suits.