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NBC has an interesting article about a subtle diplomatic trick that might be underway to force the United States into a catch-22 over recognition of the Russian annexation of Crimea.
Apparently, a Russian press report mentioned the possibility of moving Soyuz crew-survival training to a naval base in Crimea. US astronauts must pass this training to qualify for flight aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which is currently the only way for a manned mission to access the ISS.
The catch is that when traveling to Crimea for the training, astronauts would not request Ukrainian visas, resulting in the US government implicitly recognizing the change in diplomatic status of Crimea. Not traveling would be an automatic failure of the training, which would disqualify the astronauts from traveling aboard the Soyuz craft as per agreements between NASA and the Russian Space Agency.
Well played, Russia.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday September 12 2014, @03:27PM
How is the quality of available lakes relevant to space training? Other than splashdown training if we're talking non-shuttle missions...and don't the Russians "land" their flights on land anyway? (with parachutes I doubt it really matters if it's land or sea)
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 1) by tftp on Friday September 12 2014, @04:49PM
It's psychologically harder if you land into water and cannot see the shore. The article specifically mentions why water landings are considered a possibility - there had been one water landing already, into a lake in the steppe, however statistically improbable that may sound.