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I don't know much about how the STS or ISS EVA airlocks are configured, but I wonder if you could do it with a slightly modified Crew Dragon docking nose-to-nos
by caconym_ 6y ago
I don't know much about how the STS or ISS EVA airlocks are configured, but I wonder if you could do it with a slightly modified Crew Dragon docking nose-to-nose with another one. One acts as a fallback and home for the non-EVAing crew, and stays pressurized, while the other is used to stage the EVA and ultimately evacuated so that the astronaut(s) can leave via the hatch. You could launch one unmanned and have it wait in orbit for the other one, with crew.
There's a fair amount of room in those trunk sections for any gear or parts they need to bring up, too. I guess my biggest concern would be whether the hatches are big enough for real EVA suits to get in and out easily, and whether the life support system can support multiple repressurizations without significant modification. They might also need to modify the docking adapters, which are "supposed" to be androgynous but IIRC actually aren't.