Something I've been a bit confused on about this: my understanding was that generally, crew capsules that a crew went up in were kept docked so as to serve as an escape mechanism if for whatever reason the station has to be evacuated. I also had read that while they couldn't be sure that returning in starliner was safe, they at least previously thought it probably safe, just not enough to be sure of, and in an emergency scenario would still have been more likely than not okay to use. With the starliner now having been returned to earth then, is there a plan for it's crew in the event of an evacuation? Is there sufficient room aboard other crew vehicles to return them in such a case, for example?
this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2024
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Spacex crew-8 is still on board the iss with a dragon capsule until October. So the contingency plan is to have 6 astronauts return in that capsule in case of emergency. The capsule is only configured for 4 astronauts and doesn't have extra seats. So the planned return is to wait for the following dragon flight which will launch with only 2 out of 4 seats occupied and return to earth with 4 astronauts. Crew-9 is scheduled to launch in September. So there should be enough seats for everyone soon.