SpaceX launches the ISS Rescue Mission, other ISS newts

[thewayne]

Saturday saw the launch of the Crew Dragon that will bring home the two stranded astronauts from the ISS early next year. Everything went according to plan - mostly. The capsule has docked with the ISS, the first stage booster landed on its recovery ship safely. But the second stage booster did not land within the planned recovery area at sea. As a result, SpaceX is temporarily suspending launches until the get a better understanding as to why this happened.

While the sea is a large space, there are 'space graveyard' zones in it that deorbiting things are supposed to hit and that are no-go zones during certain times, such as this. To miss such a scheduled window imperils shipping and is no bueno.

https://www.space.com/spacex-pause-launches-crew-9-falcon-9-issue

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/09/engineers-investigate-another-malfunction-on-spacexs-falcon-9-rocket/


In other ISS news, there's a bit of a concerning problem. There is a crack in the tunnel connecting the Russian module to the Soyuz docking port, and it is leaking air.

Now, the air leak actually isn't that big of a deal. They allow for this, and have known about it since it was first detected in September 2019. But things have gotten worse.

From the article: "...in February of this year NASA identified an increase in the leak rate from less than 1 pound of atmosphere a day to 2.4 pounds a day, and in April this rate increased to 3.7 pounds a day."

Uh... people? Maybe you might want to do something about this?

For now, they're mitigating risk by keeping the hatch leading to the module closed. If they can't figure out a way to fix this, they'll have to keep the hatch permanently closed, reducing the number of docking ports from four to three.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/09/nasa-confirms-space-station-cracking-a-highest-risk-and-consequence-problem/

Comments

[disneydream06]

There is a crack in the "ship"?
Now that sounds like a big problem. :o :o :o
But apparently it's not if it's been going on since 2019. :o :o :o
Time to spend some money Russia, on something other then P's war. :o
Hugs, Jon

[thewayne]

Keep in mind that the ISS is entirely modular. The crack is in one particular point that is easily isolated, so it's concerning but can be cut off and monitored. And the station is, relatively-speaking, pretty old at this point.

At this point, Russia cannot make money easily. They were dependent on Ukraine for a lot of their tech, especially in their military and space sectors, so clearly that's not happening. Thus their launch schedule has ground to a stand-still.

[disneydream06]

I don't think Ukraine is going to be rushing to help them out any time soon. :o

[thewayne]

Yeah, NVBL. (Not Very Bloody Likely)

[disneydream06]

Good one. :)

[madamoiselle_sambuca]

They STILL haven't gotten the astronauts from space yet? OMFG. :(

[thewayne]

I think it's February when the two who were stranded from the Boeing are scheduled to return in the SpaceX Dragon capsule.

[madamoiselle_sambuca]

Yeah, I saw that in the Google app today. :)

[acelightning73]

This made me think of Heinlein's short story "Gentlemen, be seated." A group of people are in a space capsule of some sort, and a random meteorite punctures the cabin. THere's an emergency patching kit, which involves a sheet of rubber, and some adhesive. THe idea is to cut a rubber patch big enough to cover the hole, and glue it in place. But when the do it, the air pressure remaining inside pushes the patch right out through the hole (the glue creeps under that kind of shear force). They need to find a way to keep the patch in place until the glue cures. One of the people present is a man who should have been declared too corpulent for space flight. He takes off his space suit and sits on the patch, letting the broad surface of his buttock support the patch material. They get rescued, so he puts his suit back on.

[thewayne]

I remember that one!

[acelightning73]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentlemen,_Be_Seated!

It was one of the funniest science fictions stories I remember reading. And it's a great example of "doing what you can, with what you've got, where and when you are." The fellow who sat on the patch got a giant bruise on his buttock from the suction, but all that required was simple first aid. And I think everybody went out and got drunk after they were rescued.

[silveradept]

Not good for Elon when another of the things he supposedly runs starts developing the inability to do what its supposed to.

And the ISS leak is certainly something that comes with age and use, I'm sure, but it seems like the beginning of a horror story.

[thewayne]

Yeah, Leon definitely has some troubles: I'm going to be posting more on that soon.  And yes, the ISS is definitely getting a bit creaky with its age.  At least this particular leak can be fairly easily isolated, I'm hoping they can figure out a solution.