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Soyuz Crew Vehicle Fails Mid-Flight, Astronauts OK

posted by martyb on Thursday October 11 2018, @07:39PM   Printer-friendly
from the not-going-to-space-today dept.

takyon writes:

Soyuz FG fails during ascent – Soyuz MS-10 crew safe after ballistic entry abort

The Russian federal space agency, Roscosmos, launched their Soyuz MS-10 crew vehicle with two new crewmembers that were set for the International Space Station. However, the launch – which took place on Thursday at 0840 UTC from Baikonur – failed a few minutes into flight. Soyuz MS-10 was then aborted on a ballistic entry, before safely landing downrange of the launch site.

The crewed Soyuz, which would normally ferry three people to the Station, was carrying a reduced crew complement as part of Russia's initiative to keep their total crew presence on Station to just two until the launch, late next year, of their primary science lab, Nauka.

However, those plans are unlikely to apply now Soyuz MS-10 has failed to arrive at the ISS, with the Soyuz FG likely to be grounded for some time as a State Commision invesigation[sic] takes place.

Also at The Verge, Reuters, and CNN, and CBS.

Hat tip to iWantToKeepAnon who also made a submission on this story.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday October 11 2018, @07:58PM (14 children)

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Thursday October 11 2018, @07:58PM (#747607) Journal

    iWantToKeepAnon asks:

    Does anyone know why there were only 2 crew member aboard?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpqq0i4w_fM [youtube.com]

    0:22: "There were only two crew on this flight because Roscosmos has been running on lower budget than they would like."

    The crewed Soyuz, which would normally ferry three people to the Station, was carrying a reduced crew complement as part of Russia's initiative to keep their total crew presence on Station to just two until the launch, late next year, of their primary science lab, Nauka.

    So instead of 2 Russians and 1 American they tried to send 1 Russian and 1 American. I bet those two will be buddies for life now. This is apparently the first time one of these abort systems has been used to save astronauts (correct me if I'm wrong).

    Because of this incident, the ISS may not have anybody on board by the end of the year.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:01PM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:01PM (#747611)

    But the escape craft up there has a hole in it. Don't they have to send another one up to get them home?

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by nitehawk214 on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:13PM (4 children)

      by nitehawk214 (1304) on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:13PM (#747619)

      The hole is in the orbital module, not the descent stage.

      However, I would not want to be the one returning to Earth in the holey spacecraft. Who knows what else is wrong with it.

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      • (Score: 4, Funny) by theluggage on Thursday October 11 2018, @09:47PM (3 children)

        by theluggage (1797) on Thursday October 11 2018, @09:47PM (#747674)

        The hole is in the orbital module, not the descent stage.

        The hole that they found is in the orbital module... I mean, its OK, I'm going to finish this salad because I already found the caterpillar...

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Thursday October 11 2018, @10:18PM (1 child)

          by sjames (2882) on Thursday October 11 2018, @10:18PM (#747682) Journal

          OTOH, the choices are finish the salad they have inspected, another salad from the same kitchen with less time to inspect it, or wait for the guy who has never prepared food for human consumption before to finish building his kitchen and get it inspected.

          The first and third option are less likely to present further caterpillars, but the third is months away.

          • (Score: 2, Funny) by Sulla on Friday October 12 2018, @12:16AM

            by Sulla (5173) on Friday October 12 2018, @12:16AM (#747722) Journal

            I would go with option one, I think that finding a dragon in my salad could be quite unpleasant.

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        • (Score: 3, Funny) by Rivenaleem on Friday October 12 2018, @09:50AM

          by Rivenaleem (3400) on Friday October 12 2018, @09:50AM (#747838)

          Would have been worse if you found half a caterpillar.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:18PM (2 children)

      by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:18PM (#747622) Journal

      https://www.space.com/42009-nasa-space-station-soyuz-air-leak-update.html [space.com]

      The air leak was detected on Aug. 29 after a slight drop in pressure aboard the station, which was then traced to a 0.08-inch-wide (2 millimeters) hole in a Soyuz capsule that docked to the space station in June and will remain there until October. The hole was successfully patched, and because it is in a module that does not return to Earth, it will not impact the ability of astronauts to return in December [space.com].

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  • (Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:15PM (1 child)

    by Sulla (5173) on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:15PM (#747621) Journal

    When is the soonest that a Dragon authorized for crew is able to get up there?

    --
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    • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:22PM

      by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Thursday October 11 2018, @08:22PM (#747625) Journal

      Under the current plans, they would get there in June 2019:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_2#Flight_testing [wikipedia.org]

      The first orbital test of Crew Dragon 2 will be an uncrewed mission, designated SpX-DM1 and scheduled, as of October 2018, for January 2019. The spacecraft will test the approach and automated docking procedures with the ISS, remain docked for a few weeks, then conduct the full re-entry, splashdown and recovery steps to qualify for a crewed mission. Life support systems will be monitored all along the test flight. The same capsule will be re-used later for an in-flight abort test.

      SpaceX plans to conduct an in-flight abort test from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A in Florida after the first uncrewed orbital test flight and prior to the first crewed test flight. The test is planned to be conducted approximately in May 2019 with the refurbished capsule from the uncrewed test flight.

      [...] As of October 2018, Dragon 2 is scheduled to carry its first crew of two NASA astronauts on a 14-day test flight mission to the ISS in June 2019. They could well be the first people to ride a post-Shuttle American spacecraft into orbit, since the orbital test flight of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner is currently scheduled for the August of 2019.

      Given the major disruption that has just happened, that info may no longer be accurate.

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Thursday October 11 2018, @09:08PM

    by VLM (445) on Thursday October 11 2018, @09:08PM (#747650)

    This is apparently the first time one of these abort systems has been used to save astronauts

    The '83 pad fire/explosion was the only time the escape tower was ever used. The recent failure and the '75 failure are kinda similar in flight path in the sense both were after the escape tower was jettisoned.

    There isn't a hardware system so much as they just kinda come on for a landing, admittedly not all the way from orbit. Presumably this is the first time with that software subroutine or similar.

  • (Score: 2) by legont on Friday October 12 2018, @12:41AM (1 child)

    by legont (4179) on Friday October 12 2018, @12:41AM (#747730)

    I believe it was the first time any abort system whatsoever was used. Russian design proves itself once again.

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