Since 2000, the International Space Station has been constantly busy with the arrival of astronaut crews
In a few months, the International Space Station (ISS) may be empty for the first time in 20 years. The Russian working rocket Soyuz encountered the launch anomaly of two cosmonauts on the ISS on October 11, forcing the crew to perform an emergency landing in Kazakhstan. These “lucky ones” were astronaut Tyler Haig and cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin. I am glad that both of them survived and are now in perfect health.
Russian representatives organized an investigation to investigate the cause of the incident. Despite the fact that Russia puts the investigation into priority, it is still unclear for how long this process will take place. NASA said that they should know the exact dates: a month, two or six. Haig and Ovchinin were to join the other astronauts aboard the ISS: Alexander Gerst, Sergey Prokopiev and Serin Aunen-Chancellor, taking with them food, water and other items for research.
There are suggestions that other countries could expand the mission of astronauts on the ISS, but only by a few weeks. Usually, the Soyuz spacecraft provides about 200 days in orbit. There is a place for maneuver, but small. The next moment to transport the crew from the ISS falls to the beginning of January. Astronauts perform a large amount of experiments onboard the ISS, so leaving the laboratory empty would be scientific shame. However, the orbital outpost worth $ 100 billion will still not be in danger, because ground controllers will be able to oversee his work for a certain time.
The Russian Soyuz spacecraft is docked with the ISS. The capsule delivered astronauts to the orbital station in June 2018
The critical systems of the ISS have good redundancy, so the station can still provide its crew. The commercial program of NASA encourages the development of private American spaceflight, providing SpaceX and Boeing multi-billion contracts for the development of Crew Dragon and CST-100 Starliner transport.
However, these projects are only under development. SpaceX's manned flight is scheduled for June 2019, and Boeing for August. Now it is important to eliminate problems in the Union and resume flights.
