Soyuz

[Eric Mc]

Interestingly, a Soyuz booster was used last night to launch a Russian military satellite (Cosmos 2528) from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. I'm not sure if it's the same version of the booster used for manned Soyuz missions.

[Eric Mc]

Good explanation by Scott Manley -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5boa6wAK0Sc

A bent pin stopped the sensor for activating - which stopped oxygen venting - which stopped the tip of the strap on booster pivoting away from the center core stage.

The question has to be - how did the pin get bent in the first place. It looks like it was due to sloppy and poor assembly.

[Eric Mc]

Reminds me a bit of the DC-10 cargo door story. The door wasn't closing properly so give it a bit of welly and inadvertently fatally damage the locking mechanism which cause the door to blow out as the aircraft climbs - causing the plane to crash..

[Eric Mc]

So did the rocket.

It seems the Russians are confidant that they know what to do to ensure it doesn't happen again and are stating that their launch schedules for the Soyuz FG will not be affected.

I expect some worker was given the Russian equivalent of a P45.

[Eric Mc]

And your point is?

[Eric Mc]

I'd prefer if this thread stuck to talking about the subject matter rather than get deviated by silliness. This forum is as good a place as any to discuss technical developments and issues concerning the Soyuz spacecraft and launcher system.

[Eric Mc]

Amazingly poor quality - but it does show what happened more clearly.

[Eric Mc]

I've been watching this all evening. It has a rather "makeshift" feel to it - and all those sharp objects and sharp edges. I'm pretty sure NASA would never allow such an EVA.

And they've just found the hole

[Eric Mc]

Sergei and Oleg - I wonder are the two meerkats carrying out the EVA?

[Eric Mc]

MartG said:

Funny how there was a ( allegedly Boeing funded ) article about concerns that outgassing from paint on Dragon was affecting experiments on the ISS, yet no-one seemed bothered about all the debris from this little operation

I don't suppose flakes of foil are as problematic to the science experiments as molecules or gas.

[Eric Mc]

It seems they have managed to nudge the satellite up into the correct orbit. The current unreliability of recent Russian space technology is not very confidence inspiring.

[Eric Mc]

I don't think the Fregate stage which is where all the problems seem to be is used on the manned Soyuz system.

[Eric Mc]

Tim Peake's Soyuz spacecraft has gone on permanent display today at the Science Museum following a 20 month tour of the UK.

I can see another trip up to the museum on the horizon.

[Eric Mc]

More Soyuz issues. They do seem to be getting creakier and creakier.

Time to move on from them for good perhaps.

[Eric Mc]

How did they confirm it was due to a meteor strike?

If it was, it's the first time a manned craft has been damaged in such a way.

[Eric Mc]

It says MAY have been caused by a meteor strike.

Which means they don't really know.

[Eric Mc]

Two cosmonauts conducted a spacewalk a few weeks ago and they might have seen something that indicated a meteor strike - although what you might be actually looking for is not clear. Being a Russian spacecraft, I have always been more inclined to think it was a deteriorating or wrongly installed seal in the coolant system. Or a fatigue failure of a coolant line.