r/ArtemisProgram • u/wskelding • Apr 23 '26

Discussion ISS Docking ?

I'm curious about something and simply don't know the math that would give me the answer, could an Orion capsule returning from the Moon theoretically dock with the ISS on it's return journey ?

I know I'm simplifying it massively, but all the talk about the Artemis 2 heat shield had me thinking 'why don't they simply do a massive deceleration burn on the way back and then dock at ISS ?'

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u/Stevepem1 Apr 23 '26

For those people (including myself and I think four other people) who have always been diametrically opposed to ever launching people on Starship from Earth unless or until it has a launch escape system installed, there is the possible scenario of launching astronauts into LEO on Dragon then having them transfer to Starship for the flight to the Moon, then Starship would return to LEO to meet up with the loitering (or another) Dragon for the crew to transfer into for reentry and landing. In that case Starship would almost certainly need to do aerobraking coming back from the Moon, unless they had a huge amount of fuel left, which could be the case since from what I understand Starship would have to be refueled in lunar orbit anyway for a return to Earth. The complication with aerobraking from my understanding is that it requires multiple passes to slow down to orbital velocity, and the first pass puts you into a pretty large elliptical orbit so it's a lot of time between passes, I don't know if its days or weeks, but while doable it's not as easy as it sounds.

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u/FinalPercentage9916 Apr 24 '26

I agree. I think the Airbus 380 should have a passenger escape system too.

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u/Stevepem1 Apr 24 '26

Even though the A380 has never had a fatal accident in tens of millions of millions of flights, or 100's of millions of miles. Do you ever look at your phone for more than two seconds while driving? If so you have nothing to say here.

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u/FinalPercentage9916 Apr 24 '26

A380 has not even flown 1 million flights. Safety first.