If you want to stow away, I think best bet would be the SpaceX supply missions to the ISS on Falcon 9. Not to say that it would work but it is at least designed for passengers.
It has a pressurized capsule (as well as an unpressurized section) which in future would be used for passengers.
If you could manage to smuggle enough oxygen on board to survive the journey, perhaps with assistance of someone on the inside in SpaceX itself, and ditch something that's supposed to go up to the ISS, you could give the astronauts on the ISS a big surprise when they open the hatch.
Just throwing it out as the best of a bad job kind of a thing :).
Falcon 9
So - basically it is a crew capsule already except for the crew couches, manual override capability, and need for upgraded life support. Got thermal and pressure regulation.
Upgrade the lifesupport yourself by taking oxygen tanks, if you can sneak it on board (not saying that would be easy).
You'd be running a big risk of course. It's not fitted with the automatic escape systems of the passenger version which could have saved the capsule (unless they add those in the future for reasons of saving the cargo). And will be a while before it is rated for humans I think.
The Falcon 9 failure in June of this year, all the cargo destroyed.
I am not well up on the details of the SLS. So can't answer about that, but this is something that in principle someone could do right away.
They'd be very foolish to do so and it would require compliance I'm sure with some SpaceX employees who would surely lose their jobs shortly after. And security staff likewise, who would also lose their jobs afterwards. And would perhaps be no surprise if they don't make it.
Basically, I think it is about realistic enough to be a fun episode in a hard science fiction story as part of a larger drama and making lots of fairly unrealistic but fun assumptions.
It has a pressurized capsule (as well as an unpressurized section) which in future would be used for passengers.
If you could manage to smuggle enough oxygen on board to survive the journey, perhaps with assistance of someone on the inside in SpaceX itself, and ditch something that's supposed to go up to the ISS, you could give the astronauts on the ISS a big surprise when they open the hatch.
Just throwing it out as the best of a bad job kind of a thing :).
Falcon 9
"The Dragon spacecraft design is structurally identical for both the cargo and crew configurations, the chief differences being the thrusters, internal outfitting, and some other subsystems. For cargo launches, the inside of the capsule is outfitted with a modular cargo rack system designed to accommodate pressurized cargo in standard sizes. For crewed launches, the interior will be outfitted with crew couches, controls with manual override capability, and upgraded life support. Keeping the cargo and crewed versions of Dragon similar minimizes the design effort. "
NASA - Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX)
So - basically it is a crew capsule already except for the crew couches, manual override capability, and need for upgraded life support. Got thermal and pressure regulation.
Upgrade the lifesupport yourself by taking oxygen tanks, if you can sneak it on board (not saying that would be easy).
You'd be running a big risk of course. It's not fitted with the automatic escape systems of the passenger version which could have saved the capsule (unless they add those in the future for reasons of saving the cargo). And will be a while before it is rated for humans I think.
The Falcon 9 failure in June of this year, all the cargo destroyed.
I am not well up on the details of the SLS. So can't answer about that, but this is something that in principle someone could do right away.
They'd be very foolish to do so and it would require compliance I'm sure with some SpaceX employees who would surely lose their jobs shortly after. And security staff likewise, who would also lose their jobs afterwards. And would perhaps be no surprise if they don't make it.
Basically, I think it is about realistic enough to be a fun episode in a hard science fiction story as part of a larger drama and making lots of fairly unrealistic but fun assumptions.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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