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Imagine the Crew Dragon (or Stariner or Orion) has just achieved orbit. Due to a manufacturing flaw or a meteor, the window suddenly blows out. All 6 of the crew manages to get their suit visor's closed so they are OK. Now What? They can't reenter with an open window.

So they go to ISS & dock. New problem is, if they open the hatch, the air in the station will go out their window. So the ISS crew seals and depressurizes the compartment inside the hatch so it's an airlock. (can that be done?)

Next Problem: Can a crew member shut off his umbilical before unplugging himself so the air in his suit won't rush out?

If he can, can all 6 of them live off residual air in their suits as they unplug, get through the hatch, close the hatch and pressurize the chamber?

In other words: Can astronauts in currently planned pressure suits survive a cabin which cannot be repressurized?

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  • $\begingroup$ Related space.stackexchange.com/questions/12734/… $\endgroup$ – Antzi Feb 13 '20 at 6:51
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    $\begingroup$ If the capsule is not pressurized, the hatch of the ISS compartment under pressure could not be opened anyway. $\endgroup$ – Uwe Feb 13 '20 at 10:00
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    $\begingroup$ Instead of docking, they could berth the capsule near an EVA airlock and then EVA from the unpressurized capsule into the airlock. $\endgroup$ – Dragongeek Feb 13 '20 at 10:19
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    $\begingroup$ Also, are we sure that the capsule couldn't reenter with a blown out window or in a depressurized state? $\endgroup$ – Dragongeek Feb 13 '20 at 10:20
  • $\begingroup$ @Dragongeek the 'normal' response to a loss of cabin pressure would be to abort and re-enter. Not sure about the loss of a window or how credible of a failure that is. Human spacecraft windows are usually multi-pane/layer affairs. $\endgroup$ – Organic Marble Feb 13 '20 at 12:17

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