A report suggests that NASA might use a spaceship to rescue three people from the space station.
Russia has said that a decision about sending the crew back to Earth will be made in January. The rescue craft could only come in February or March before the changeover.
If these options don't work out, NASA may use the only company currently flying astronauts into space as a backup.
"We have asked SpaceX a few questions about their ability to return additional crew members on Dragon if necessary, but that is not our main focus at the moment," Jones said in a statement to the news agency. The company did not reply to the requests.
There is a hole in the spaceship that is not caused by a meteorite.
NASA didn't say if the company could launch a backup Crew Dragon to pick up the crew or add more seats to the existing Dragon at the space station.
NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, as well as Japanese and Russian astronauts Koichi Wakata and Anna Kikina, are scheduled to return to Earth in early 2023.
The crew that was using the Soyuz was made up of Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin, as well as NASA's Frank Rubio. Usually, only crew members who have been fitted for a custom-made spacesuit are allowed to launch. The report didn't address how this issue would be solved.
There was a time when astronauts wore sleek space suits from the space shuttle Era.
The cause of the leak has not been determined, but it could be from space debris or a small object that can't be tracked. There was a hole in the Soyuz's radiators.
If the complex had to be evacuated for any reason, it's possible that three people wouldn't be able to get home.
The co-author of Why Am I Taller is Elizabeth Howell. A book about space medicine is in the works. Follow us on social media, like us on Facebook (opens in new tab)
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