The world held it’s collective breath last month when the Russian Soyuz TMA-11 capsule came plowing through the atmosphere off course, with an approach too steep and far too fast. Onboard at the time were U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and South Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon returning from their trip the the International Space Station. This was Yi So-yeon’s virgin flight into space and one she is likely to never forget.
Now after weeks of investigation into the cause of the botched landing, the source of the problem has been uncovered. It appears the error was caused by a malfunction in the equipment module’s inability to properly separate from the orbiting capsule at the appropriate re-entry time. This propelled the craft into an unstable decent placing the astronauts in danger by exposing them to severe G-forces, heat and throwing the craft off course by literally hundreds of miles. The Soyuz eventually bounced its way across the steppes of northern Kazakhstan. All aboard were shaken, but not stirred. However, even a few weeks after the event, the astronauts still showed signs of dizziness, nausea and loss of equilibrium.
Soyuz flights were put on temporary hold until Russian and NASA officials were assured the problem is fixed and will not reoccur for future flights. The ISS program will rely heavily on Soyuz and Progress craft after the Shuttle is retired in 2010. NASA’s new Orion craft won’t be ready for its first jaunt into space until 2014 at the earliest, leaving 4 years in which Soyuz and Progress will be the main source of travel back and forth between Earth and the space station. Unless, of course, Scotty can get those transporters up and running in the mean time.
There is currently one Soyuz craft permanently docked to the ISS for emergency escape purposes.
The next scheduled Shuttle run to the space station is Monday, May 31 and the next Soyuz mission is set for October of this year. Russian and NASA engineers are expected to have the Soyuz undocking problem fixed long before that time.
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