Separation Anxiety
Jim Oberg has a great article on NASA Spaceflight regarding the technical problems that could have imperiled the crews of Soyuz TMA-10 and Soyuz TMA-11. It appears that consecutive Soyuz flights have suffered from off-nominal separation between the descent and propulsion modules, and off-nominal entries ensued.
An obvious course of action for NASA is to oversee the mishap review process and ensure that proper corrective actions are taken. Soyuz TMA-13 should not be launched until NASA is satisfied that the practices and systems which led to the problems on TMA-10 & 11 have been corrected.
A thornier situation is the fate of Soyuz TMA-12, currently docked to ISS. If the problems are truly common to all Soyuz spacecraft, can we expect the same dangerous reentry anomalies when TMA-12 returns to earth? Unless the Russians can conclusively demonstrate that TMA-12 is safe, NASA should plan on returning cosmonauts Volkov & Kononenko aboard the space shuttle during STS-126 this October or November. With all that is currently known, a re-entry aboard TMA-12 could jeopardize the crew. Then again, NASA has no obligation to save the bacon of cosmonauts who have been consigned to a risky re-entry by the Russian government.
Also slated to return aboard Soyuz TMA-12 is Richard "Lord British" Garriott, the computer game guru and son of astronaut Owen Garriott. As a paying Space-Adventurer, will Garriott balk at the prospect of coming home aboard TMA-12? Will the power of his dollars be able to get the Russians to reconsider their safety and quality-control practices?
The responsible thing would be to bump Garriott to TMA-14, and launch the rehabbed TMA-13 with a two-man crew. TMA-13 would replace the potentially-flawed TMA-12 at the ISS. TMA-12's crew would come home on the Space Shuttle. TMA-12 would be allowed to re-enter unmanned. This might be the only way to avoid a potential space disaster. While TMA-10 and 11 lucked out, it's foolish to rely on luck indefinitely.
An obvious course of action for NASA is to oversee the mishap review process and ensure that proper corrective actions are taken. Soyuz TMA-13 should not be launched until NASA is satisfied that the practices and systems which led to the problems on TMA-10 & 11 have been corrected.
A thornier situation is the fate of Soyuz TMA-12, currently docked to ISS. If the problems are truly common to all Soyuz spacecraft, can we expect the same dangerous reentry anomalies when TMA-12 returns to earth? Unless the Russians can conclusively demonstrate that TMA-12 is safe, NASA should plan on returning cosmonauts Volkov & Kononenko aboard the space shuttle during STS-126 this October or November. With all that is currently known, a re-entry aboard TMA-12 could jeopardize the crew. Then again, NASA has no obligation to save the bacon of cosmonauts who have been consigned to a risky re-entry by the Russian government.
Also slated to return aboard Soyuz TMA-12 is Richard "Lord British" Garriott, the computer game guru and son of astronaut Owen Garriott. As a paying Space-Adventurer, will Garriott balk at the prospect of coming home aboard TMA-12? Will the power of his dollars be able to get the Russians to reconsider their safety and quality-control practices?
The responsible thing would be to bump Garriott to TMA-14, and launch the rehabbed TMA-13 with a two-man crew. TMA-13 would replace the potentially-flawed TMA-12 at the ISS. TMA-12's crew would come home on the Space Shuttle. TMA-12 would be allowed to re-enter unmanned. This might be the only way to avoid a potential space disaster. While TMA-10 and 11 lucked out, it's foolish to rely on luck indefinitely.
posted by Mr. X at
9:42 PM
