May 12, 2008
Soyuz Landing Injuries
Perilous Landings by Soyuz Worry NASA, Washington Post
"None of the astronauts was injured, including American Peggy A. Whitson, who was returning after six months of weightlessness on the space station. But the spacecraft lost communication during reentry and remained out of radio contact with Russian mission control for an hour, raising the specter of a crash landing."
South Korea's first astronaut hospitalized with back pain, AP
"Yi So-yeon was taken to a hospital Tuesday due to the pain after she canceled a meeting with President Lee Myung-bak, according to the state-run Korea Aerospace Research Institute, where she works as a bioengineer.
The Science Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that preliminary tests showed Yi suffered a minor injury to her neck muscles and bruised her spinal column."
Internal NASA Documents Give Clues to Scary Soyuz Return Flight, IEEE Spectrum
"Although the technical investigation will take weeks to resolve, NASA and Russian engineers have come to several credible preliminary conclusions. And internal NASA documents, such as "15S Ballistic Entry Outbrief" by George Kafka, chief of the Safety & Mission Assurance Directorate for the ISS program, reveal a plausible idea of what probably happened."
Editor's note: If "none of the astronauts was injured" why did Yi So-Yeon spend a week in the hospital
Posted by kcowing at May 12, 2008 8:16 AM
I'm just speculating, but Yi So-Yeon's back pain may have been due to normal gravity re-adaptation rather than the Soyuz landing.
Posted by: Tim Blaxland at May 12, 2008 7:42 PMTim, also speculating, but a bruised spinal column would make me think shock injury rather then a readaptation problem after a short term stay in microgravity.
IIRC there are any number of injuries that can show up after an auto accident. From what the article said, NASA PR has said a few statements that are not born out by the evidence. A point by point reconstruction from the blackboxs is going to be viewed by everyone in the space access business with high interest. Because the statements from several people in the article raises any number of questions. Although that speculaton on the authors' part at the bottom of page two is ... speculaton on the authors part without a stated factcheck.
Till then ... we'll just have to wait and see.
Posted by: Michael Antoniewicz II at May 13, 2008 1:26 AMI do not think Yi So-yeon was honest about her current medical conditions when she flew. Her issues are not likely related to the landing.
Posted by: JSC_LIS at May 13, 2008 7:46 AM

