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Soyuz crew lands safely after emergency launch abort

beefheart

beefheart

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This was pretty scary, after a few minutes into their flight, the Soyuz FG rocket's second stage failed. This illustrates why the traditional rocket design is much safer for the crew. They were able to separate from the rocket and execute a ballistic landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan. Had a space shuttle flight aborted at this altitude it would have required a difficult return to launch site landing, or possibly a landing in Spain or Senegal, thankfully the shuttle never had a launch abort like this, they did have a flight where they lost a main engine, but they were already far enough along to make it to orbit.

Oddly enough this launch only had 2 astronauts, the third crew member was removed a few months ago from the roster as he would not be able to complete his mission due to the equipment he was to work on hadn't been launched yet. Both astronauts are safe and sound, but this is going to put a crimp in the ISS staffing, and we are still 6-9 months from NASA being able to launch a crew with its new rocket, and at least 6 months away from SpaceX being able to launch a crew with its new Dragon capsule.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/10/11/soyuz-crew-lands-safely-after-emergency-launch-abort/

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/10/10/live-coverage-two-man-crew-to-launch-on-six-month-space-station-expedition/

Soyuz crew lands safely after emergency launch abort

A normally reliable Soyuz FG rocket malfunctioned two minutes after liftoff from Kazakhstan Thursday, forcing a Russian cosmonaut and his NASA crewmate to execute an emergency abort and a steep-but-safe return to Earth a few hundred miles from the launch site. Russian recovery crews reported the crew came through the ordeal in good shape.

“NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin are in good condition following today’s aborted launch,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted from Kazakhstan. “I’m grateful that everyone is safe. A thorough investigation into the cause of the incident will be conducted.”


Abort.jpg

You can watch the launch here:

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/10/11/watch-a-replay-of-the-soyuz-launch-and-abort/
 
beefheart said:
This was pretty scary, after a few minutes into their flight, the Soyuz FG rocket's second stage failed. This illustrates why the traditional rocket design is much safer for the crew. They were able to separate from the rocket and execute a ballistic landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan. Had a space shuttle flight aborted at this altitude it would have required a difficult return to launch site landing, or possibly a landing in Spain or Senegal, thankfully the shuttle never had a launch abort like this, they did have a flight where they lost a main engine, but they were already far enough along to make it to orbit.

Oddly enough this launch only had 2 astronauts, the third crew member was removed a few months ago from the roster as he would not be able to complete his mission due to the equipment he was to work on hadn't been launched yet. Both astronauts are safe and sound, but this is going to put a crimp in the ISS staffing, and we are still 6-9 months from NASA being able to launch a crew with its new rocket, and at least 6 months away from SpaceX being able to launch a crew with its new Dragon capsule.

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/10/11/soyuz-crew-lands-safely-after-emergency-launch-abort/

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/10/10/live-coverage-two-man-crew-to-launch-on-six-month-space-station-expedition/

Soyuz crew lands safely after emergency launch abort

A normally reliable Soyuz FG rocket malfunctioned two minutes after liftoff from Kazakhstan Thursday, forcing a Russian cosmonaut and his NASA crewmate to execute an emergency abort and a steep-but-safe return to Earth a few hundred miles from the launch site. Russian recovery crews reported the crew came through the ordeal in good shape.

“NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin are in good condition following today’s aborted launch,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted from Kazakhstan. “I’m grateful that everyone is safe. A thorough investigation into the cause of the incident will be conducted.”


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You can watch the launch here:

https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/10/11/watch-a-replay-of-the-soyuz-launch-and-abort/
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So happy this ended with no lives lost!
 
Renae said:
So happy this ended with no lives lost!
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That is the thing about big dumb rockets, the crew is at the top of the rocket and can escape if something goes wrong. This rocket had just jettisoned its escape rocket at the top of the capsule, so thankfully they didn't have to use that, but there was a Russian launch where they did, and it saved the crew's lives.
 
beefheart said:
That is the thing about big dumb rockets, the crew is at the top of the rocket and can escape if something goes wrong. This rocket had just jettisoned its escape rocket at the top of the capsule, so thankfully they didn't have to use that, but there was a Russian launch where they did, and it saved the crew's lives.
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Yeah, it worked, and they were safe and I'm happy, but I don't like the Soyez system, it's soo complicated, ever watch how the reenter? It's madness.
 
Renae said:
Yeah, it worked, and they were safe and I'm happy, but I don't like the Soyez system, it's soo complicated, ever watch how the reenter? It's madness.
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Its fairly steep, but its proven and it works. Landing a capsule on land is better than the ocean, and there is a whole lot of land in central Asia.
 
beefheart said:
Its fairly steep, but its proven and it works. Landing a capsule on land is better than the ocean, and there is a whole lot of land in central Asia.
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No no, seriously Watch this:
 
beefheart said:
That is the thing about big dumb rockets, the crew is at the top of the rocket and can escape if something goes wrong. This rocket had just jettisoned its escape rocket at the top of the capsule, so thankfully they didn't have to use that, but there was a Russian launch where they did, and it saved the crew's lives.
Click to expand...

I was never a fan of the space shuttle. Silly thing with all that fuel beside it, and wings there only for reentry and landing. It's so much cheaper, easier and safer to make capsules that mount to the top of rockets than strapping an airplane-looking thing to the side of a giant hydrogen tank.
 
calamity said:
I was never a fan of the space shuttle. Silly thing with all that fuel beside it, and wings there only for reentry and landing. It's so much cheaper, easier and safer to make capsules that mount to the top of rockets than strapping an airplane-looking thing to the side of a giant hydrogen tank.
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The thing about the shuttle, it was like buying a Lamborghini to drive to the corner store. You don't need an overly complicated launch vehicle, spend the money once you are in space. I am still awed that the Falcon Heavy has 27 first stage engines on it (3X9 per booster), and that they can control all of them within a precision. Back in the 70's the Soviet N1 rocket had 30 engines on its first stage, 8 on its second stage, 4 on its third stage, and 1 on its fourth stage. It failed on all 4 of its launches, back then the Soviets could not produce large enough engines, they just didn't have the tech. And they didn't have enough sophisticated computers to ensure they would all fire at the same rate, it was a disaster of a program, thankfully no one ever flew on it. Then they spent billions trying to build their space shuttle which had some good features, including the ability to fire the engines once it came back into the atmosphere if they had to do a landing abort. It flew once, completely automated, and never flew again. But at least we got the wonderful Antonov 225 aircraft out of it, a massive 6 engined beast that can move very large cargo around the world.
 
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