International Space Station may soon be unoccupied

New York Times : For the first time in more than a decade, the International Space Station may become vacant, due to lack of astronaut transport. NASA ended its space shuttle program last month, and the Russian space program is experiencing problems with its Soyuz rocket, which last week launched an unmanned cargo ship that ended up crashing in Siberia. The six astronauts currently in residence on the station are scheduled to leave on two Soyuz capsules already docked at the station. Their departure has been delayed as officials investigate what went wrong in last week’s crash. If the rocket engine problems are not diagnosed and fixed, the station will remain empty once the current crew members leave. Even if unoccupied, however, the station can be remotely operated from Earth, and some experiments, such as the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, would continue to operate.