Soyuz Capsule Lands in Kazakh Steppe With 3 Aboard

[Elmore Furth]

Source: Associated Press

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) — A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts back from a six-month mission on the International Space Station has touched down safely in the central steppes of Kazakhstan.

Saturday's return to earth of American astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson and Russia's Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko had been delayed a day. Technical glitches had postponed undocking of the spacecraft.

A hover of Russian recovery helicopters took flight ahead of the landing southeast of the remote central Kazakh town of Arkalyk to intercept the capsule.

Signaling errors in the onboard computer system and a malfunction with hooks and latches on the space station side of the capsule delayed the undocking.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/09/24/world/asia/AP-AS-Kazakhstan-Space-Station.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

[exboyfil]

1. I always found it interesting that the Russians went with

hard landings while we did ocean landings. Could be the lack of access to a warm water port?

Pretty bad when we have to beggar rides for probably the next 20 years from the Russians to get into low Earth orbit. It is going to put a crimp in our work on observational platforms. Flip side of that argument is that manned space flight is really expensive. It is probably cheaper to just launch more instead of maintaining a manned capacity to service them.

The Soviets brought back moon rocks from Luna 16. Maybe we should be working on an unmanned mission to Mars to do the same. We still have some unresolved issues from the Viking mission in regards to what really happened with the Labeled Release (LR) life detection experiment. Still wonder why no repeat of that experiment with controls that would eliminate all other alternatives.

[Lagomorph]

2. One problem is that Mars has much higher gravity than the Moon.

It would take a huge, multi-stage vehicle to get off the planet, then there is the return trip.

[exboyfil]

4. Still it is better to lift off with samples

than trying to lift off with astronauts and their environmental compartment. The return is not that big of a deal though. Once you exit Mars orbit it is a gravity well all the way down. I may try doing some calculations later.

Mars gravity is not that bad (3.7 m/s2 vs. 1.6 m/s2 on the moon).

[onehandle]

6. I always thought that it had to do with secrecy back then.

Also it's probably cheaper for a hard landing. Chase planes and helicopters, but no ships and subs required.

And then there's the vast amount of empty land they possess.

[RZM]

7. Interesting too that they're still using Kazakhstan for space missions

As they did in Soviet days. I guess it's cheaper to use the old facilities than to build new ones in Russia. I doubt the old party hack Nazarbayev has much of a problem with this.

[daleo]

9. I believe one U.S. astronaut came closr to drowning

Water started getting into the capsule after the splashdown. I think it was one of the Mercury astronauts. The story is in The Right Stuff.

[exboyfil]

10. Gus Grissom and his dimes

"The Right Stuff" overstated the number of dimes though. Other astronauts have pulled similar stunts. They did find dimes when they went to refurbish Liberty Bell 7.

I had classes in Grissom Hall. The joke was always that the Aero Eng. offices where in Grissom Hall (he was a Mechanical Engineer) and Zucrow Labs (part of Mechanical Engineering) were in Chaffee Hall (an Aeronautical Engineer).

I really did not have a firm appreciation of that part of Purdue's history when I was there.

[Ian David]

3. How many were onboard when it launched? n/t

[RedCloud]

5. You are supposed to land on water! Like we do. Not!

[roamer65]

8. Amazing Soyuz has lasted this long.

I can now see why the Chinese copied it for their program.

Maybe we should copy it, too.

[Vehl]

11. The Russians always build sturdy stuff

apart from the Soyuz, the AK guns and their attack helicopters are good examples.