May 24, 2008

Is The Soyuz at ISS a Potential Dud?

Space station crew may face another bumpy re-entry, Reuters

"The space industry source, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters faulty bolts were suspected of causing the last two "ballistic landings" and they are also fitted on the re-entry capsule now docked at the ISS. "There are explosive bolts which keep two modules attached to Soyuz capsules," the source said. "They are supposed to go off right before the entry into the Earth's atmosphere." "For some reason this didn't work (on the previous two re-entries), although the unseparated modules fell off eventually. What is bad is that another Soyuz-TMA is believed to have this faulty device and is docked at the ISS for the return trip," he said."


Posted by kcowing at May 24, 2008 10:09 AM
Comments

Have the Russians released any studies on the stresses - mechanical and thermal - when a Soyuz module fails to detach and is ripped off/burned off during reentry? Sounds like a pretty substantial risk to me.

Posted by: FRED at May 24, 2008 8:33 PM
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