Discussion
k me! 
Max_Torque said:
Silly question of the Week: How come the Soviets do without all the complex launch towers the US uses? (Ie a use pad, right back to the early days, had a tower next to it for access and vehicle support. how do the Ruskies get the guys up into the pointy end a few hrs before launch??)
Depends on the rocket. Some require a big structure and some do not. The Redstone needed nothing - 
The modern version of the Atlas doesn't require much of a tower -
_launches_with_LRO_and_LCROSS_cropped.jpg)
The Shuttle required a lot of structure around it when it was ion the pad, mainly because it was fragile and needed protection. Also, because the cargo in the bay needed servicing for the weeks and sometimes months it might be sitting on the pad before it was launched.
And the Russian R7/Soyuz pad does have quite a bit of structure holding it in place on the pad. It's just that most of it is concentrated on the lower third of the rocket. The main part is moved away a few hours before launch.
Edited by Eric Mc on Tuesday 15th December 14:19
Blackpuddin said:
Soyuz looks surprisingly small compared to the Saturn V though that might be childhood memories playing tricks.
Not a trick of the memory at all. You can see the size differential in this display of my rocket collection - 
My model of the R7 depicts it carrying a Vostok spacecraft. With a Soyuz fitted it is a bit taller - but you can see the overall comparison.
Max_Torque said:
Silly question of the Week: How come the Soviets do without all the complex launch towers the US uses? (Ie a use pad, right back to the early days, had a tower next to it for access and vehicle support. how do the Ruskies get the guys up into the pointy end a few hrs before launch??)
You must have missed the bit about two hours before - they went up in a lift.Which was then moved away.
I know, boring isn't it? Jet-packs, surely?
But the whole ex-Soviet effort seems much less intense than the US one.
The 'isolation' of the prime crew, with technicians wearing face masks (as if that did any good) was followed by them meeting their families and then the press with a glass screen between. Just a screen, across the room. Photographers leaning around the side for pics. And then to the launch pad, dozens of people - no masks at all!
The Soviet space suits, putting them on - the lining being carefully hand gathered into folds, tied with string and tucked inside! Or else a zip-tie, I couldn't see. The suit ten sealed with a lace!
The "Soviet Space Tours" bus to the launch pad - no hermitically sealed and life supported caravan as for the Apollos. Do you remember Nixon greeting the Apollo 11 crew after they came back, through thick glass inside same sealed bus, in case they brought back a space plague?
All almost casual, which the Russians have a right to be, when their space vehicle is as reliable as an old bus. Or a new one.
John
tapkaJohnD said:
The "Soviet Space Tours" bus to the launch pad - no hermitically sealed and life supported caravan as for the Apollos. Do you remember Nixon greeting the Apollo 11 crew after they came back, through thick glass inside same sealed bus, in case they brought back a space plague?
Apparently there was some international concern so they threw them a bone. Irony is they had to pop the hatch for the divers to lob in the coveralls to keep pesky moon bugs at bay.
Eric Mc said:
Blackpuddin said:
Soyuz looks surprisingly small compared to the Saturn V though that might be childhood memories playing tricks.
Not a trick of the memory at all. You can see the size differential in this display of my rocket collection - My model of the R7 depicts it carrying a Vostok spacecraft. With a Soyuz fitted it is a bit taller - but you can see the overall comparison.
Amazing it even got off the ground.
tapkaJohnD said:
You must have missed the bit about two hours before - they went up in a lift.
Which was then moved away.
I know, boring isn't it? Jet-packs, surely?
But the whole ex-Soviet effort seems much less intense than the US one.
The 'isolation' of the prime crew, with technicians wearing face masks (as if that did any good) was followed by them meeting their families and then the press with a glass screen between. Just a screen, across the room. Photographers leaning around the side for pics. And then to the launch pad, dozens of people - no masks at all!
The Soviet space suits, putting them on - the lining being carefully hand gathered into folds, tied with string and tucked inside! Or else a zip-tie, I couldn't see. The suit ten sealed with a lace!
The "Soviet Space Tours" bus to the launch pad - no hermitically sealed and life supported caravan as for the Apollos. Do you remember Nixon greeting the Apollo 11 crew after they came back, through thick glass inside same sealed bus, in case they brought back a space plague?
All almost casual, which the Russians have a right to be, when their space vehicle is as reliable as an old bus. Or a new one.
John
Lots and lots of reasons why the Apollo approach to suiting up HAD to be different. However, the main one was the Apollo spacecraft used pure oxygen. So the astronauts had to be suited up and sealed into their spacesuits in a special suiting room well before they were put on board the spacecraft. If you look at any pictures of the Apollo crews walking out to their van, you will notice they are carrying hand held oxygenation units.Which was then moved away.
I know, boring isn't it? Jet-packs, surely?
But the whole ex-Soviet effort seems much less intense than the US one.
The 'isolation' of the prime crew, with technicians wearing face masks (as if that did any good) was followed by them meeting their families and then the press with a glass screen between. Just a screen, across the room. Photographers leaning around the side for pics. And then to the launch pad, dozens of people - no masks at all!
The Soviet space suits, putting them on - the lining being carefully hand gathered into folds, tied with string and tucked inside! Or else a zip-tie, I couldn't see. The suit ten sealed with a lace!
The "Soviet Space Tours" bus to the launch pad - no hermitically sealed and life supported caravan as for the Apollos. Do you remember Nixon greeting the Apollo 11 crew after they came back, through thick glass inside same sealed bus, in case they brought back a space plague?
All almost casual, which the Russians have a right to be, when their space vehicle is as reliable as an old bus. Or a new one.
John
The procedure for the Space Shuttle was much more like Soyuz - and that is because the Shuttle used on ordinary air mixture rather than pure oxygen.
Not forgetting the docking adapter for Apollo Soyuz.
http://www.astronautix.com/project/astp.htm
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/apoodule.htm
http://www.astronautix.com/project/astp.htm
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/apoodule.htm
RobDickinson said:
Orbits velocities and fuel.
You can't just motor on up to the iss have to match orbit for rendezvous which isn't straight forward and doing it with limited fuel and with an approach velocity that won't smash things up..
Would it be that you take a parabola, the top of which is the same height, direction and speed as the ISS?You can't just motor on up to the iss have to match orbit for rendezvous which isn't straight forward and doing it with limited fuel and with an approach velocity that won't smash things up..
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