A Soyuz spacecraft that landed nearly 300 miles off course on Saturday apparently re-entered the atmosphere hatch first with a propulsion unit still attached, according to published reports.
CBS News reports that the Soyuz descent capsule - carrying Peggy Whitson, Yuri Malenchenko and Yi So-yeon home from the International Space Station - had difficulty separating from its propulsion module. The spacecraft re-entered the top of the atmosphere in an unusual orientation until the propulsion unit broke away, something it is designed to do in such a situation. The Soyuz then righted itself with its heat shield down.
The “ballistic” re-entry subjected the three astronauts to high G forces. CBS News quotes Whitson as saying that a meter in the spacecraft read 8.2 G’s.
The Russian Interfax news agency is quoting an unnamed Russian space official as saying the crew was in serious danger, according to the Associated Press. The hatch suffered major damage, as did a valve that equalizes pressure between the inside and outside of the ship. An antenna melted away, preventing communication between the capsule and Mission Control in Moscow.
This is the second time in a row that such a problem has occurred on a Soyuz flight, and the third abnormal landing in five years. Engineers are investigating the malfunction, and NASA officials expressed confidence in their Russian colleagues.
One other minor mystery has been cleared up: published reports indicate that a fire near the landing site had nothing to do with the spacecraft. Local farmers - some of whom rushed to help the astronauts - were conducting a controlled burn of some grasslands.
0 Responses to “Reports: Soyuz Re-entered Atmosphere Hatch First”
Leave a Reply