• The Crew Dragon spacecraft has emerged as the hub of NASA's human spaceflight programme.
• The best way to recover the crew might depend in part on what triggered the leak.
• The temperatures inside the capsule are still, according to NASA, 'below acceptable limits.'

NASA is looking into whether SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft could possibly offer an alternative way home for certain crew members of the International Space Station after a Russian capsule broke a coolant leak while docked to the orbital lab.

A coolant line on an external radiator of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft has been damaged. This spaceship is set to return to Earth early next year with a crew of two cosmonauts and one American astronaut. NASA and Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, are looking into the cause of the problem. However, the Dec. 14 leak, which drained the Soyuz of a crucial fluid used to control crew cabin temperatures, has disrupted Russia's space station routines, with engineers in Moscow debating whether to launch another Soyuz to reclaim the three-person crew that arrived at the ISS aboard the MS-22 craft that was damaged. 

NASA is considering a backup plan in the event that Russia is unable to launch another Soyuz ship or determines that doing so would be too risky for some other reason. In a statement to Reuters, Nasa spokeswoman Sandra Jones stated, 'We have asked SpaceX a few questions about their capability to return more crew members on Dragon if necessary, but that is not our primary focus at this time.' 

A request for comment from Reuters was not answered by SpaceX. It was unclear what features of SpaceX's Crew Dragon were specifically requested by Nasa, such as whether the corporation could launch an empty capsule for the crew's rescue or figure out a means to boost the crew capacity of the Dragon currently docked to the station. 

However, the firm's potential participation in a mission led by Russia highlights the level of safety measures taken by Nasa to ensure that its astronauts can safely return to Earth, should one of the other backup plans put in place by Russia turn out to be unsuccessful.

American astronaut Frank Rubio and the cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dimitri Petelin were transported to the space station in September for a six-month mission in the leaking Soyuz spacecraft. In March 2023, they were supposed to return to Earth. 

Four additional crew members joined the station in October via a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule that was contracted by NASA and is still parked at the ISS. These four individuals are two more astronauts from NASA, a third Russian cosmonaut, and a Japanese astronaut.

The focal point of Nasa's human spaceflight ambitions in low-Earth orbit is SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule, a gumdrop-shaped pod with four astronaut seats. It is the only system, excluding Russia's Soyuz programme, that can transport people to and from the space station.