NASA : space station may be evacuated by late November

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Monday said astronauts may need to evacuate the International Space Station by late November. If Russian Soyuz rockets remain grounded beyond mid-November, there will be no way to launch new crews before the current residents are supposed to leave, NASA said. Meanwhile, three of the six space station astronauts will remain in orbit for at least an extra week-they were supposed to return to Earth on September 8-and the late September launch of a new crew has been delayed as well. NASA space station program manager Mike Suffredini said the flight controllers could keep an evacuated space station operating indefinitely.