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MOSCOW – A Soyuz capsule carrying South Korea’s first astronaut landed in northern Kazakhstan Saturday, 260 miles off its mark, Russian space officials said.
Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said the condition of the crew — South Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon, American astronaut Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko — was satisfactory, though the three had been subjected to severe G-forces during the re-entry.
[…]
Officials said the craft followed a so-called “ballistic re-entry” — a very steep trajectory that subjects the crew to extreme physical force. Lyndin said the crew had experienced gravitational forces up to 10 times those on Earth during the descent.The crew were being examined on site by medical officials, and were later to return to Moscow for further evaluation.
Thanks MJ.
Doh!… damn GPS again!
They landed in my backyard – high five! We are selling most of space craft on eBay.
Ancient USSR equipment. Does anybody have a 6V6 tube?
#3. Hey! At least they don’t fall apart during lift off.
Hopefully their ballistic missiles have better accuracy (just in case) …
[Fixed. – ed.]
It’s the second time in a few months that a Soyuz capsule reenters on a ballistic trajectory. I wonder what’s happening…
In any case get used to it. After the next 10 shuttle flights, the Shuttle will be retired, and the US will resume using capsules. And these may also fall hundreds of miles off target.
The fact is that the only ship that always lands where planned is the Shuttle.
Billions of dollars wasted on someone else’s war helping to keep someone else’s country alive half the world away, but no money for one single new shuttle in the budget? Shame on the USA.
Shuttles should have been scrapped in the 80’s for a better – more cost effective – vehicle.
#9
Probably you’re right, but since there is nothing “better” or “newer” in NASA’s stable, building one new shuttle every few years to replace aging ones shouldn’t have been any problem (one might think).
Although remembering the $40,000 toilet seat scam, I’m less surprised there is no money in the budget for NASA’s toys while country is under attack and at war 😉
Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov told reporters:
“The most important thing is that the crew is healthy and well,” Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov told reporters. “The landing occurred normally, but according to a back-up plan — the descent was a ballistic trajectory.”
Perminov said engineers would examine the capsule to determine what caused the glitch, though he blamed the Soyuz crew for not informing Mission Control about the unusual descent.
Later, Perminov referred to a naval superstition that having women aboard a ship was bad luck when asked about the presence of two women on the Soyuz.
“You know in Russia, there are certain bad omens about this sort of thing, but thank God that everything worked out successfully,” he said. “Of course in the future, we will work somehow to ensure that the number of women will not surpass” the number of men.
Challenged by a reporter, Perminov responded: “This isn’t discrimination. I’m just saying that when a majority (of the crew) is female, sometimes certain kinds of unsanctioned behavior or something else occurs, that’s what I’m talking about.” He did not elaborate.
“…Later, Perminov referred to a naval superstition that having women aboard a ship was bad luck when asked about the presence of two women on the Soyuz…”
They’ll work it out next time by sticking dildos in each female passenger’s spacesuit (or else).
That should beat the omen, no?
😉
Perhaps Perminov thought the American Astronaut was Bi so they figured it would be even?
The Soviet/Russian participation in the Space Program still kind of amazes me.
Not just that it’s still happening… but that they are actually better at some aspect of it than we are. It has to do with their robust but practical technology. We American tend to make things that are flash, high-tech but fragile. The Soviets compliment that with practical and sturdy.
I, personally, thing we need to have two sets of crafts. One set — unmanned — is for cargo and can be super high tech.
But for the manned craft, we should follow the Soviet model of less-flashy and more reliable — just a capsule on a tried-and-true rocket design.
The only thing that comes to mind is “LAWN DART”
NASA’s new thing: Constellation
http://tinyurl.com/yxsj3d
NASA is going back to the future.