and there way no way for them to? what would they do? Also do any of you know who was stuck on the space station after Columbia blew up and for how long?
2007-01-29 02:27:56 · 7 answers · asked by bad b 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
There is always a Russian Soyuz space craft docked at the space station for use as an emergency escape vehicle. Every 6 months a new Soyuz is launched from Russia to bring supplies and people to the space station. Usually there is one pilot and two passengers in the Soyuz. Sometimes one of the passengers is a space tourist. After about a week, the pilot and any passenger scheduled to return to Earth then use the old one, leaving the one they went up in at the station so that the one docked and standing by for an emergency is always less than 6 months old.
2007-01-29 03:28:47 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Straight from the horse's mouth--
"A Soyuz space capsule took the first crew to the International Space Station in November 2000. Since that time, at least one Soyuz has always been at the Station, generally to serve as a lifeboat should the crew have to return to Earth unexpectedly. After the Columbia accident in February 2003, the Soyuz TMA became the means of transportation for crewmembers going to or returning from the orbiting laboratory."
2007-01-29 11:04:54 · answer #2 · answered by gamblin man 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is a spare Soyuz capsule capable of landing back on earth available (it is attached to the ISS) for the astronauts to use on the International Space Station (ISS).
If they could not reach it, then the only alternative would be to send either a Shuttle or another Soyuz up to the ISS. They would not have much time, as the Apollo 13 flight showed, there is not much margin for error.
At the time of the Columbia disaster, Expedition 6 was onboard the ISS..
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp6/index.html
ISS Commander Kenneth Bowersox
Flight Engineer Donald Pettit
Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin
2007-01-29 11:10:17 · answer #3 · answered by srrl_ferroequinologist 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would think that they would send for a shuttle. NASA doesn't want to have any more deaths attributed to the space program, so I would think that they would be on top of every emergency.
2007-01-29 10:31:13 · answer #4 · answered by Surveyor 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Right now there is no emergency escape capsule but they are working on it.
2007-01-29 10:30:51 · answer #5 · answered by AL IS ON VACATION AND HAS NO PIC 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
well there are in big trouble
2007-01-29 10:30:38 · answer #6 · answered by RED ROSE 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
They would be S.O.L.
2007-01-29 10:30:59 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋