why is shuttle retrieving stranded astronauts not returning until February? SpaceX shuttle launched yesterday. The ISS is close to earth. What will it do for next 5 months?
In: Planetary Science
The ISS has an optimum crew of about 7. More is overcrowded, less is wasteful.
The SpaceX Dragon can carry 4 crew in the configuration NASA uses. Soyuz can carry 3. NASA had 4 already on a Dragon what wanted to go home because they launched in March, and the Soyuz rotation is separate.
Then Butch and Sunny got launched, and it was deemed too dangerous to return them on Starliner. So Nasa flew up a Dragon with only 2 seats occupied to pick up the two spare crew.
They could return everyone, but that would leave the ISS with only a crew of 3 Russians.
Now they have 8 Nasa astronauts and 8 seats across 2 vehicles. But who to send down? Well they chose to send down the crew who have been up since March in the spacecraft that’s been up since March.
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