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NASA indefinitely delays return of Starliner to review propulsion data
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2024
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Do they have enough seats up there without starliner to get everyone down?
I assume they could just stay up there until another Dragon/Soyuz launch if they don't trust starliner?
Maybe? Soyuz is too cramped, but Dragon might be able to fit extra people. A few years ago a NASA astronaut flew up on a leaky Soyuz, so they looked at using Dragon as a lifeboat:
https://www.space.com/nasa-spacex-dragon-rescue-spacecraft-soyuz-leak
Dragon was drawn up to fit 7 people, with 3 seats on the bottom and 4 on top. They ended up changing the seat angles for reentry, so now they only have 4.
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Starliner is still their emergency ride home in case a real alarm goes off, but they want to study the leak issue as much as possible before they separate their service module, which burns up during reentry.
Are the docking adaptors male/female or interchangeable? Could they do a dragon/dragon docking manoeuvre if they all had to jump in there?
The docking adapters look pretty much the same (interlocking petals, not male/female) and can be active, passive, or both, but Dragon's is only active. Active has to dock to passive, so two Dragons couldn't dock.
SpaceX developed a new one that can be active or passive for Starship, which will have to dock with Orion and the Lunar Gateway.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/nasa-spacex-test-starship-lunar-lander-docking-system/