Earth Orbit Rescue Shuttle for Personnel

[jcmontanez]

Has Space X ever considered building a light spacecraft for emergency rescue of personnel stranded in Earth orbit?

 

[adoucette]

Wouldn't the limiting factor be that those stranded would not have suits that allowed them to transfer to this craft?

 

[LKK]

As I remember this was originally part of the overall plan but was one of the things cut out

 

[LKK]

Wouldn't the limiting factor be that those stranded would not have suits that allowed them to transfer to this craft?

They developed these little balls people could crawl into and be transferred

 

[adoucette]

They developed these little balls people could crawl into and be transferred

I think it was proposed, but never developed because once you inflated the ball, you couldn't exit or enter any existing docking adapter or capsule door.

 

[LKK]

They had at least prototypes so it was more than a proposal, an awful big oversight if they were unusable!

 

[adoucette]

They were unusable in any existing capsule. Not that we couldn't design capsules with huge doors.
But we haven't.

 

[LKK]

In any case that was one proposed solution to the problem stated.

 

[adoucette]

Well you could possibly do it with the Shuttle, which had an airlock for EVAs, but its not a realistic solution since we have reverted back to relatively small capsules to go to and from space.

 

[Navigaiter]

Rescuing sick astronauts is a great usage for 'Space Tugs."!!

Space Tugs will be orbiting gas stations and their primary income will come from refueling old valuable satellites. They'll eventually have a mechanic on duty to make mechanical repairs to meteoroid hits.
They're already being developed but as yet, are too small to incorporate a personnel hatch and a habitation room.
SOON, There will be inhabited hotels in space and their owners would surely spend a lot of dough to make a contract with an "orbital ambulance!!" It would encourage more tourism and enhance profits.
The Dream Chaser space plane could be adapted to be an on-orbit tug and rapid reentry space ambulance.!
It is scheduled for first launch as a cargo boat in 2024.

 

[jcmontanez]

Maybe an uncrewed Dream Chaser with an empty Shooting Star cargo module could be launched, returning to Earth with a test crew, certainly a truly precious cargo.