(Tom Merkle) wrote in message . com...
(Al Jackson) wrote in message . com...
marvin wrote in message news:7a0cf$4019fa07

You could Design one To fit in the 5 meter Fairing of a EELV and the
Mass of 40k lbs, is doable on a EELV. Issue of how to maneuver the
Module in orbit would have to be worked out. likely a CRV Tug,
mimicking the proposed CEV.

Cheers

I like the idea!
This would kill three birds with one stone.
First the testing you propose.
Second: This could more than provide the ISS Contingency Shuttle Crew
Support (CSCS), required for RTF.
Thrid: Expansion of the crew to 6 that the International partners have
been wanting back in the ISS program.

Habitable volume is not holding down size of ISS crew, it's supply
delivery and crew escape. That's why ISS is a crew of 2 right now
instead of 3. Only Soyuz and Progress can resupply, and their current
launch rate + payload is insufficient to support a crew of 3.

After shuttle returns to flight, the station should be able to support
a crew of 3, but only 3 until another crew escape method becomes
available that can return all astronauts onboard to earth in the event
of a problem.

Even after this, odds are that International partners will probably
follow Bush's lead and use ISS mainly for human microgravity
studies--which means you'll probably never need more than 3 people on
board.

Tom Merkle

Quite true.
Well everything is hazy right now. At one time it seemed that ESA ,
with the ATV and buying its own Soyuz might be able to bring the crew
size up.
But with cost overruns on the ATV that's probably out.
Ah well, nothing is really clear.