ISS Crew Stuck In Orbit While Russia Assesses Rocket

astroengine sends word that the astronauts aboard the International Space Station will be staying up there longer than expected while engineers for Russia's space program try to figure out if it's safe to launch more rockets. The recent Russian cargo mission that spun out of control and eventually fell back into the atmosphere sparked worries that a vessel sent to retrieve the astronauts wouldn't make it all the way to the ISS's orbit. Roscosmos and NASA said the next rocket launch will be postponed at least two months. Even though the Russian cargo ship failed to reach the ISS, they have plenty of food, water, and air to last them to the next scheduled supply run — a SpaceX launch in late June.

Comments

Not stuck in orbit!

[hackertourist]

They have a Soyuz attached to the station and can use that to return to Earth if they need to.
They're just postponing a scheduled crew change, which is possible because despite the Progress failure, they still have enough supplies to last them until the next scheduled supply run.

Re:Get SpaceX crew-rated soon.

[ColdWetDog]

Yes, they can get back on man rated Soyez. No booster required. But then the can't bring another crew up until the rescue capsule is replaced by - wait for it - another Russian booster.

Re:Elon Musk to the rescue once again

[cjameshuff]

The drone platforms (there's one being built for the west coast too) will still be used for situations where the core doesn't have enough propellant to return to land. Especially the center core of Falcon Heavy launches that need to make a large plane change, as the cross-fed center core goes much further and faster than the side cores.

*sigh*

[jpellino]

The program was cancelled by the Bush II administration in 2004. The last flight happened while Obama was president, following a 1 year funding extension of funding authorized by congress in 2009 that made the last flight in 2011 rather than the originally scheduled 2010. If enough Americans told their senators and reps "I'll only vote for you if you get us another crew vehicle" we would have one in less than six years.