hey Community,
Back on the subject of the International Space Station, our South Korean astronaut, So-yeon Yi came back to earth after a mere 11 day space expedition. The crew experienced various problems flight home including straying about three hundred miles from the intended landing site in Kazakhstan!! I don’t know what you guys think, or what is considered normal in space landings, but 295 miles seems like a pretty substantial accident to me!
The main thing wrong with the flight was surprisingly not the distance mishap. The Soyuz-TMA spacecraft, of Russian design, is intended to transport people and supplies to and from the International Space Station. The Soyuz spacecraft was what Commander Peggy Whitson were provided with to return to Earth. The return to Earth, is usually consists of gravity forces up to six times the Earth’s natural gravity; this landing yielded forces eight times the Earths natural gravity! The spacecraft also had automatically switched over to the backup mode of approach- Ballistic Mode.
“Officials still aren’t sure what caused the second consecutive ballistic descent [in a Soyuz-TMA spacecraft] and the third in five years.”
Audio: Peggy Whitson interview on NASA TV. 6:24 MP3
The condition of the spacecraft’s hatch is also under steaming pressure- it appears that the hatch was significantly damaged upon landing putting the crew in serious danger. Not the best way to come back to your home planet, at least the local Khazakhstanians who came to assist in the spacecraft departure didn’t think the crew were aliens!
Currently the U.S. depends completely on the Soviets for transportation to and from the Space Station. A lot of the reason is the serious lack of funding going to NASA. THAT, I believe, is the real problem. Eventually, however, private commercial companies will step in more and more to take the load. Many companies are in the process of delving into space travel. Richard Branson’s “Virgin Galactic” is an exciting upcoming example of this. Check out this article: http://www.galacticjourneys.com/
Hogan says : I absolutely agree with this !