The Astronauts Will Have to Evacuate The ISS in November?

If the Russian scientists did not find out what the cause of a malfunction rockets, International Space Station may be forced in November to begin to function without a crew on board.

An unmanned Russian cargo ship Progress 44 crashed after its launch on August 24, and not delivering 2.9 ton weight on the orbiting laboratory. The accident was caused by problems with the carrier rocket Soyuz, which is used to deliver astronauts to the station.

Currently, the station has six astronauts. They have enough resources and therefore the collapse of the Progress does not threaten their mission.

But three of them must return to Earth next month, and the remaining three in the middle of November. Currently, the only means of delivery to and from the station is the Union. Therefore, in case the rocket anomaly is detected and corrected in the near future, the new team would not be able to reach the laboratory before the three remaining astronauts to return home.

Thus, for the first time since 2001, the station cost $ 100 billion, will operate without attendants on board. But, as explained in NASA, it’s not a reason for concern.

“We know how to do it,” – said the program manager at NASA’s space station, Mike Saffredini. “Provided that all systems will function normally, as I said, we can control the station from the ground and keep it in orbit indefinitely.”

Saffredini added that NASA would prefer, of course, that the team stayed at the station astronauts. Only when the astronauts can conduct research at an altitude of 386 kilometers above the Earth. After closing the space shuttle program in the past month, NASA has repeatedly stressed the importance of research and scientific potential of the plant.