[AS] First '8-Ball' Astronaut Ready for Thursday Morning Launch to Space Station

[Orionid]

First '8-Ball' Astronaut Ready for Thursday Morning Launch to Space Station
By Ben Evans, on October 10th, 2018


Nick Hague will serve as Flight Engineer-1, flying right-seat on Soyuz MS-10 to Commander Alexei Ovchinin. Photo Credit: Nick Hague/NASA/Twitter

The first member of NASA’s 2013 astronaut class stands ready to launch into space on his first mission at 2:40 p.m. local time (4:40 a.m. EDT) tomorrow (Thursday, 11 October), from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Forty-three-year-old Air Force Col. Nick Hague will fly aboard Soyuz MS-10, alongside seasoned Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin—who previously logged six months in orbit in 2016—for an anticipated half-year stay on the International Space Station (ISS).


The Soyuz-FG booster for the Soyuz MS-10 mission is readied in the integration hall at Baikonur. Photo Credit: NASA, via Joachim Becker/SpaceFacts.de

It is expected that Hague will perform at least two sessions of Extravehicular Activity (EVA), later in October, as well as supporting a raft of cargo ships: two SpaceX Dragons, two Northrop Grumman Corp. Cygnuses and a Russian-built Progress. Three hundred experiments in life and microgravity sciences and technology will be performed on the U.S. Orbital Segment (USOS) and Hague and Ovchinin may also see the maiden unpiloted test-flights of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing CST-100 Starliner. Historically, they will be joined on their return to Earth in April 2019 by the first national astronaut from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A married father-of-two, Tyler Nicklaus Hague hails from Belleville, Kan., where he was born on 24 September 1975. He completed high school in Hoxie, Kan., before entering the Air Force Academy and graduating in 1998 with a degree in astronautical engineering. Hague then entered active military duty as a second lieutenant and, after completing a master’s degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he was assigned to Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M., in August 2000. Hague’s initial duties focused on advanced spacecraft technologies and in 2004 he graduated as a flight test engineer at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. He worked on the F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-15 Eagle and T-38 Talon aircraft at the 416th Flight Test Squadron and deployed to Iraq in late 2004 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.


The Soyuz MS-10 prime crew and their backups, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Canada’s David Saint-Jacques, ceremonially raise their national flags at Baikonur. Photo Credit: Nick Hague/NASA/Twitter

Two years later, Hague joined the Department of Aeronautics faculty at the Air Force Academy, providing student instruction in aeronautics, linear control system analysis/design and scuba. Selected for the Air Force Fellows program in 2009, he was assigned as a member of the personal staff in the U.S. Senate, advising on national defense and foreign policy matters, before serving in the Pentagon as a congressional appropriations liaison for the U.S. Central Command. In 2012, Hague was appointed deputy division chief for research and development for the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, a position he held until selection by NASA in June 2013.

Chosen from a pool of 6,100 qualified applicants, Hague joined seven others to form part of NASA’s smallest astronaut class selected since 1969. In July 2015, the class completed two years of training and evaluation and Hague initially worked technical assignments in resource planning and operations within the ISS Operations Branch of the astronaut office. He became the first member of his class to receive a flight assignment in March 2017, initially serving with Ovchinin on the backup crew for Soyuz MS-08 and later rotating into the prime crew for Soyuz MS-10.


With the exception of Jessica Meir (back row, second left), all of the 8-Balls have received a formal flight assignment. Photo Credit: NASA

Since then, many of Hague’s fellow astronauts from the 2013 class—nicknamed “the 8-Balls”—have received their first flight assignments. Army aviator Anne McClain will fly aboard Soyuz MS-11 in December 2018, joining Hague aboard the space station during the second half of his increment. Former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) engineer Christina Hammock-Koch will join them in April 2019, flying uphill on Soyuz MS-12, and for a few days next spring, three members of the 8-Balls will be in space simultaneously. After McClain returns to Earth, Army surgeon Drew Morgan will launch aboard Soyuz MS-13 in July, joining Hammock-Koch and maintaining an 8-Ball presence on the space station throughout 2019. Hammock-Koch will return to Earth in October, whilst Morgan is slated to land in January 2020.

Dovetailed into this schedule, Marine Corps fighter pilot Nicole Mann will fly the first CST-100 Starliner, tentatively targeted for August 2019, whilst Navy test pilot Victor Glover will fly the first operational Crew Dragon in late 2019 and Navy physicist Josh Cassada is assigned to the first operational CST-100 Starliner, currently targeted to launch in early 2020. The final member of the 8-Balls, physiologist Jessica Meir, trained alongside Russian cosmonaut Sergei Ryzhikov and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi earlier this year, but has yet to be formally named to her first space mission. She is currently training as backup for Hammock-Koch’s flight.   

Source: First '8-Ball' Astronaut Ready for Thursday Morning Launch to Space Station

[Orionid]

Soyuz MS-10 Crew Lands Safely in Kazakhstan, Following Launch Vehicle Failure
By Ben Evans, on October 11th, 2018


Alexei Ovchinin (foreground) and Nick Hague wave to well-wishers, ahead of their ill-fated launch on Thursday, 11 October. Photo Credit: NASA/Twitter

Soyuz MS-10 crewmen Alexei Ovchinin of Russia and NASA’s Nick Hague have performed an emergency return to Earth and landed safely in Kazakhstan, following a failure in their Soyuz-FG booster. The two men—with Ovchinin making his second launch, having previously spent a half-year in space in 2016, and Hague on his first flight—were launched on time from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 2:40 p.m. local time (4:40 a.m. EDT) Thursday, 11 October. However, within minutes, ominous reports of a booster “failure” emerged over the airwaves from the Russian launch announcer and the crew performed a high-G ballistic descent back to Earth. When search and rescue forces reached them, Ovchinin and Hague had exited the Soyuz MS-10 descent module and were described as in good condition and healthy.

According to NASA, they were flown via Karaganda Airport back to the Gagarin cosmonauts’ training center, on the forested outskirts of Moscow. “NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and the NASA team are monitoring the situation carefully,” noted a NASA news release. “NASA is working closely with Roscosmos to ensure the safe return of the crew. Safety of the crew is the utmost priority for NASA. A thorough investigation into the cause of the incident will be conducted.”

Thursday began traditionally for Ovchinin and Hague, with wake-up in Baikonur’s Cosmonaut Hotel about 8.5 hours before launch. The crew showed and were disinfected, then submitted to microbial samples in support of the biomedical experiments to be performed aboard the International Space Station (ISS). After ceremonially autographing the doors of their hotel rooms and receiving a blessing from a Russian Orthodox priest, Ovchinin and Hague were bussed to Site 254 to don their Sokol (“Falcon”) launch and entry suits. They were then transported to Site 1/5, which is the same location from which Yuri Gagarin began his pioneering mission into space, way back in April 1961.

Liftoff occurred on time and the early phase of ascent appeared entirely nominal, with more than 930,000 pounds (422,000 kg) of thrust produced by the single RD-108 first-stage engine and the RD-107 engines of the Soyuz-FG’s four tapering, strap-on boosters. It was expected that a smooth launch would put Soyuz MS-10 on course for a six-hour and four-orbit “fast rendezvous” to reach the space station. However, shortly after launch, with the rapidly ascending rocket merely a high-altitude glow to ground-based spectators, the first indications arose that all was not well. Ominous calls of “booster failure” were heard, via the translated words of the Russian launch announcer, and Soyuz MS-10 entered into a steep, high-G ballistic descent profile, heading for touchdown near the city of Dzhezkazgan, in the Karaganda region of central Kazakhstan.


The Soyuz-FG booster rolls out to Site 1/5 at Baikonur on Tuesday, 9 October. Photo Credit: NASA

NASA’s Brandi Dean, commentating on today’s launch, reported that search and rescue helicopters and ground forces had been scrambled by 4:55 a.m. EDT—only 15 minutes after launch—and were expected to arrive in the vicinity of the predicted landing zone about 90 minutes later. “Soyuz crew did not achieve orbit…and made a ballistic re-entry,” tweeted shuttle and Soyuz veteran Mike Fossum. “Expect higher G-loads for this profile. SAR teams en-route. Praying.”

In the meantime, at 5:20 a.m. EDT, Ms. Dean declared the relieving news that Soyuz MS-10 had landed safely, about 12 miles (20 km) east of Dzhezkazgan, and that Ovchinin and Hague were in radio communications with the search and rescue forces. It was revealed that both crewmen were healthy and in otherwise good condition. High-G ballistic re-entries were also experienced by several previous Soyuz crews, including Soyuz TMA-1 in May 2003, which brought the first crew safely back to Earth in the wake of the Columbia disaster, and Soyuz TMA-11 in April 2008, which landed 295 miles (475 km) off-course, following a pyro-bolt malfunction which prevented the instrument module from separating smoothly from the descent module. A similar contingency had also occurred during the return of Soyuz TMA-10 in October 2007.


Soyuz MS-10 experiences an off-nominal booster-separation event during ascent. Photo Credit: NASA TV, via David M. Harland

Other astronauts who have flown the Soyuz paid tribute to its reliable engineering. “Soyuz has no black zones,” tweeted veteran NASA flier Kevin Ford, who launched aboard Soyuz TMA-06M in October 2012. “The crew can survive booster failures at any point during ascent.”

However, today’s events mark a startling break from “normality”, as the Soyuz has not failed to deliver a crew into orbit for more than three decades. Including today’s launch, 139 Soyuz spacecraft have flown in over a half-century of active service. Four fatalities were experienced on two early Soyuz missions, but an actual ascent emergency, high-G ballistic descent and forced landing occurred only once. In April 1975, Soyuz 18A cosmonauts Vasili Lazarev and Oleg Makarov suffered a booster malfunction a few minutes after launch, when the central core failed to separate from the third stage.


Alexei Ovchinin (lower) and Nick Hague were shaken around quite violently in the Soyuz MS-10 cabin during the abort. Photo Credit: NASA, via David M. Harland

At an altitude of 90 miles (145 km), the spacecraft separated from the rocket and for a second or two the cosmonauts experienced weightlessness, before beginning a steep, ballistic descent. It was noted at the time that Lazarev and Makarov would ordinarily have endured up to 15 G, but actually experienced 21.3 G of deceleration, whose gravitational effects the crew described as “creeping and unpleasant”. Soyuz 18A’s descent module touched down in the Altai Mountains, about 515 miles (830 km) north of the Chinese border.

It would appear, thankfully, that Soyuz MS-10’s descent was considerably smoother than that of Soyuz 18A. By the time the search and rescue forces arrived, they reported that Ovchinin and Hague had exited the descent module. In the wake of the Soyuz MS-10 contingency, Russia has established a State Commission to investigate the circumstances, but Ms. Dean did not anticipate a press conference today. “NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin are in good condition following today’s aborted launch,” tweeted NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who was witnessing his first manned launch since becoming the head of the space agency. “I’m grateful that everyone is safe. A thorough investigation into the cause of the incident will be conducted.”

Source: Soyuz MS-10 Crew Lands Safely in Kazakhstan, Following Launch Vehicle Failure

[Orionid]

[SpaceNews] NASA to look at options to keep crew on ISS while Soyuz grounded

NASA to look at options to keep crew on ISS while Soyuz grounded
by Jeff Foust — October 11, 2018


An image of the Soyuz rocket carrying the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft around the time an anomaly with the rocket triggered the mission's abort. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — With Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft grounded for an indefinite period, NASA managers said Oct. 11 that they will look at ways to keep the current International Space Station crew in orbit for an extended period if needed.

During a NASA briefing held less than eight hours after the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft performed an emergency abort two minutes into its launch to the station, agency officials said they had few details about the incident and declined to speculate into the cause.

“Watching the ascent from our contingency action center here, the first stage appeared nominal,” said Reid Wiseman, NASA deputy chief astronaut. “There was first stage booster separation and then the abort occurred, and that’s really all the data that we have at this time.”

“We would be speculating” by offering any more insights into the launch failure, said Kenny Todd, ISS operations integration manager, noting the abort took place seconds after the Soyuz rocket’s strap-on boosters separated. “It was clearly in and around that time frame, but it’s very, very difficult to the untrained eye to be able to try to diagnose what was going on.”

That investigation, he said, would be left to a Russian state commission established within a few hours of the accident. “We’ll expect to hear some details on that over the next few days from our Russian colleagues,” he said.

He said it was not clear how long the investigation would last. “Obviously this is a high priority from a Russian standpoint to go try and understand what happened,” he said. “They will put a lot of resources on trying to understand exactly what happened.”

The length of the investigation is an issue since, with the Soyuz grounded, there is no means to get crews to the station. The three people currently on the station — commander Alexander Gerst of ESA, Serena Auñón-Chancellor of NASA and Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos — can return to Earth using the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft docked to the station.

Soyuz spacecraft, though, have an orbital lifetime of about 200 days based on testing of the ability of the spacecraft’s components to handle the space environment. With the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft launched to the ISS June 6, that lifetime limit would be reached in late December.

“There’s a little bit of margin” on that lifetime, Todd said, “but not a whole lot of margin.” The Soyuz would likely reach the end of life by early January, he said.

Todd emphasized, though, that NASA will seek ways to avoid “de-crewing” the ISS, which would happen if the current crew left on the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft before the Soyuz returned to flight. “We’re going to have to let that play out a little bit,” he said of bringing the crew back in December as planned. “We’re going to look at what our options are to try to make sure we don’t have to de-crew station.”

The current crew, Wiseman said, would be willing to stay on the station beyond the end of the year. “I talked to the crew this morning. They’re doing great,” he said. “They’re ready to serve at the will of the program. They will stay up there as long as need them to.”

In a worst-case scenario, though, Todd said that it should be feasible to operate the ISS without a crew on board for at least a limited time. “I feel very confident that we could fly for a significant amount of time” without a crew, he said. “There’s nothing that says we can’t just continue to bore holes in the sky and do a minimal amount of commanding. I’m not too concerned about that.”

He emphasized that there was no urgency to make any decisions about station operations. The station has plenty of supplies, he said, and the only major near-term issue is rescheduling a pair of spacewalks planned for late this month that would have involved Nick Hague, the NASA astronaut on the aborted Soyuz mission.

“We certainly don’t anticipate any problems throughout the rest of their increment onboard,” he said. “I think we’ve got runway in front of us, so I don’t worry too much about at least the next couple of months from a station standpoint.”

Source: NASA to look at options to keep crew on ISS while Soyuz grounded

[Orionid]

Soyuz investigators hone in on booster separation, promise conclusions Oct. 20
by Matthew Bodner — October 12, 2018


Sergei Krikalev, Roscosmos' director of manned spaceflight, updates reporters in Moscow on the ongoing investigation into the Oct. 11 Soyuz mission abort. Credit: Roscosmos photo

MOSCOW — Details surrounding the dramatic abort of the Oct. 11 Soyuz MS-10 launch are coming into focus as accident investigators collect debris from the Kazakh steppe and begin work on analyzing the cause of the failure. Roscosmos now says one of the Soyuz rocket’s four strap-on boosters failed to properly separate and nicked the core stage.

Russia’s most famous living cosmonaut and director of manned spaceflight at Roscosmos, Sergei Krikalev, told reporters Oct. 12 that there are no final conclusions yet, but it is clear that “contact occurred when separating the first and second stages,” he said. “There was a deviation from nominal trajectory, and damage to the lower part of the second stage.”

At this point, Krikalev says the onboard computer cut the second stage engines as designed. This took place at about 119 seconds into flight. Not long after, the Soyuz launch escape system was activated — pushing the capsule away from the launch vehicle and sending cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and astronaut Nick Hague on a dramatic but safe ballistic trajectory home.

Krikalev’s account jibes with what little could be seen from NASA TV’s live broadcast of the launch. Compared to previous launches, Soyuz MS-10’s first stage separation looked messy, and careful examination suggests something knocked the rocket off course. Footage from within the cabin and the crew’s agitated messages to ground controllers also appear to back this up.


An image of the Soyuz rocket carrying the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft around the time an anomaly with the rocket triggered the mission’s abort. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
 
Unidentified sources quoted by the Kommersant newspaper Oct. 12 said investigators are honing in on the cause of the anomalous booster separation. The leading theory, according to Kommersant’s sources, is that a problem with the separation mechanism or booster mount are responsible for the failure.

Computer failure is also being looked at, but at this moment is considered the least likely scenario, Kommersant reported.

Krikalev suggested the investigation may be swift, promising results by Oct. 20. Though Russia has suspended Soyuz flights amid the investigation, launches have yet to be officially delayed or rescheduled — indicating Roscosmos is hopeful to quickly resolve the problem with minimal interruption to ISS operations and other Soyuz missions.

Krikalev also suggested, however that temporary abandonment of ISS is on the table if Soyuz is out of service for an extended time. Everything — which crews will fly when, which Soyuz flights are scrubbed, and the impact on ISS operations — depends on the accident investigation and the implications of those findings for Soyuz flight safety.

Meanwhile, Roscosmos director Dmitry Rogozin said Oct. 12 that Hague and Ovchinin will be given another mission as early as spring 2019. The two astronauts are back at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, just outside Moscow. They are undergoing further medical evaluations and debriefings with accident investigators.

Source: Soyuz investigators hone in on booster separation, promise conclusions Oct. 20

[Orionid]

Safety panel fears Soyuz failure could exacerbate commercial crew safety concerns
by Jeff Foust — October 12, 2018


NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel warned potential schedule pressures created by the Soyuz MS-10 accident could exacerbate safety issues with commercial crew vehicles under development. Credit: Boeing/SpaceX

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Members of an independent NASA safety panel said they were worried that the Oct. 11 Soyuz launch failure could make safety concerns with the agency’s commercial crew program even worse.

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), in a previously scheduled meeting at the Johnson Space Center Oct. 11 only hours after the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft suffered a launch vehicle failure and had to make an emergency landing, said the incident only deepened concerns about the ability of Boeing and SpaceX to adhere to their schedules without jeopardizing safety.

“We have not seen the program make decisions detrimental to safety,” said Patricia Sanders, chair of ASAP, in her opening remarks. “But current projected schedules for uncrewed and crewed test flights for both providers have considerable risk and do not appear achievable.”

“The panel believes that an overconstrained schedule, driven by any real or perceived gap in astronaut transport to the International Space Station and possibly exacerbated by this morning’s events, poses a danger that sound engineering design solutions could be superseded, critical program content could be delayed or deleted, and decisions of ‘good enough to proceed’ could be made on insufficient data,” she argued.

Sanders and other ASAP members said they were skeptical that either Boeing or SpaceX could maintain its current schedules for fielding their commercial crew systems, let alone accelerate them to address a potential gap in ISS access created by the Soyuz failure.

ASAP member Don McErlean outlined several issues that SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft needs to overcome, including a lack of a final resolution on the root cause of the failure of a composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) that led to the pad explosion of a Falcon 9 more than two years ago. That is linked, he added, to the use of “load-and-go” fueling of the rocket that would take place, on commercial crew missions, after astronauts have boarded the spacecraft.

“Ultimately, there has to be the acceptance and certification of a configuration which is judged by both parties to be free of the demonstrated characteristics that caused the failure in question,” he said. “This remains an open technical item that the panel believes has to be firmly resolved before we can certainly proceed to crewed launches.”

He also raised concerns about issues with the Dragon’s parachute system, citing anomalies during testing of the Crew Dragon spacecraft and unspecified problems with cargo versions of the Dragon. “Clearly, one cannot risk crew without there being a complete confidence in the parachute design,” he said.

McErlean pushed back against criticism that it was paperwork, and not technical issues, that was delaying test flights of the Crew Dragon spacecraft. That certification “paperwork,” he argued, is actually in the form of critical technical reviews by NASA of the data provided by the vehicle developers.

“While this may indeed be described as paperwork, it is not bureaucratic, it is not paperwork and, point in fact, it is the essence of the technical certification of the design by NASA, and that does have to be completed before crew flies on these systems,” he said. “It is essentially extremely important and should not be thought of as some sort of bureaucratic time delay.”

Boeing has problems of its own to overcome, ASAP member Christopher Saindon noted, including investigating a problem with the propulsion system in the CST-100 Starliner’s service module first reported in July. That issue, he said, appeared to be a “harmonic resonance across the system” that caused a “waterhammer” effect, prematurely shutting down the engine during a static-fire test. Boeing, he said, is still working to identify the root cause of that failure and the exact source of that resonance.

Saindon said that Boeing was also working on parachute issues of its own discovered during testing in New Mexico. “They’re still working to discover the exact root cause,” he said. “The test is on hold until they do that, and then they have to re-initiate the test program, and it’s not an easy test program.”

A third issue he discussed with “unexpected failures” of pyros used to separate the Starliner’s crew module from its service module prior to reentry. “They’re still working to understand why that occurred,” he said. He added that, despite the pyro problems, the overall separation system appeared to work as desired.

He, too, was skeptical Boeing could resolve its issues and complete its testing on its current schedule. “They do have a pretty significant ‘burn-down curve’ for their validation and verification,” he said, with 40 percent of that work complete. “There’s certainly some concern with maintain a good schedule profile with those considerations.”


Boeing’s John Mulholland (left) and SpaceX’s Benji Reed discuss their commercial crew development programs Oct. 11 at the ISPCS conference in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Credit: SpaceNews/Jeff Foust

Commercial crew providers respond

During a panel session later in the day at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight here, managers of Boeing’s and SpaceX’s commercial crew programs said they were still confident that they could meet their current schedules for testing their vehicles, but would not sacrifice safety for schedule.

The latest schedule, released by NASA Oct. 4, calls for an uncrewed test flight by SpaceX in January, followed by a crewed one in June. Boeing would perform an uncrewed test flight in March and a crewed one in August. That schedule, though, represented a delay of two months for SpaceX, and a roughly similar time frame for Boeing, since the previous schedule released in August.

“You lay out a plan you believe you can achieve,” said John Mulholland, vice president and program manager for commercial programs at Boeing’s space exploration unit. He noted the company was 85 percent of the way through the overall test program, but added that still meant a chance of discovery of new issues during that final 15 percent. “If there’s discovery that we have, we’ll address it correctly, and fly as soon as we’re ready.”

“You put together a plan, you expect to follow it, and you do your best to get there,” said Benji Reed, director of commercial crew mission management at SpaceX. “While we’re all pushing hard to get flying, you also want to want to provide it safely.”

Both Mulholland and Reed said they were making progress addressing some of the technical issues raised by ASAP in its meeting. “We discovered an inherent design susceptibility in the launch abort engine,” Mulholland said of the service module hotfire test problem, one that he said only showed up when the entire system was tested. A “really subtle design change” should resolve the problem, he said.

Reed didn’t go into details about parachute anomalies alluded to at the ASAP meeting. “We’re constantly learning and going through that data and applying that, ensuring that the ultimate parachute system that will fly for crew, as well as for cargo missions, will be safe,” he said.

Neither Mulholland nor Reed suggested that development of their commercial crew vehicle could be accelerated much from their current schedules in response to the Soyuz MS-10 failure, adding they would not cut testing needed to ensure their vehicles’ safety.

“We look at it in terms of, ‘Could I work extra shifts or put extra people on it?’” Mulholland said. “It never crossed our mind to think what could you not do, what scope can you reduce.”

“You have to do the same work. You have to do the right work,” Reed said. “The question is whether there’s a way you can compress that schedule. You don’t look at in terms of cutting out work.”

Source: Safety panel fears Soyuz failure could exacerbate commercial crew safety concerns

[Orionid]

Russian spacecraft suffers setback in 165th second of flight, crew lands safely
Science & Space October 11, 18:50 UTC+3

A Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with a manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on October 11 but suffered a setback 2 minutes and 45 seconds after its liftoff


© Sergei Savostyanov/TASS

MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/. A Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with a manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:40 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday but suffered a setback 2 minutes and 45 seconds after its liftoff due to a cause still unidentified.

This is the first emergency situation with this type of carrier rockets over the past 35 years. The rescue capsule with the crew comprising Roscosmos [Russian space agency] cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague landed some time after the abortive launch in the Kazakh steppe 20 km from the town of Zhezkazgan.

Emergency workers are now searching for the rocket’s fragments that have fallen in Kazakhstan.

The rocket with the manned spacecraft carrying the crew blasted off from the launch pad of the Baikonur Cosmodrome at the designated time and initially proceeded according to plan.

The launch was broadcast live by Russia’s Center for the Operation of the Ground-Based Space Infrastructure and the telemetric data were reported together with the data on the condition of the first stage’s engines. The first stage detached from the booster and in the 165th second of the liftoff the newscaster announced: "the carrier rocket aborted." The live broadcast continued for some time, showing the site with tourists who had come to view the launch and the Cosmodrome’s personnel working at the launch pad after the blastoff but the telemetric data were no longer reported. After that, the live broadcast on the websites of the Center for the Operation of the Ground-Based Space Infrastructure and Roscosmos was interrupted.

After it became obvious that the Soyuz flight broke off, NASA constantly reported live on its website about the crew’s rescue. Meanwhile, the newscaster announced that the Soyuz capsule had switched "to the ballistic descent mode" while rescuers had set off to search for the place of its emergency landing. Within several minutes after the carrier rocket aborted its launch, Ovchinin and Hague landed in the Kazakh steppe and established contact with the rescuers.

The cosmonauts were found and taken aboard a Mi-8 helicopter. In the town of Zhezkazgan, they underwent a primary medical check-up. As Russia’s Federal Medical and Biological Agency (FMBA) reported, the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft’s crew members are in good condition and they will be taken to the FMBA’s Central Medical and Sanitary Center in the town of Baikonur for their further medical observation.

As was reported later, the crew was flown to the town of Baikonur.

Director of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems within the Russian Academy of Sciences Oleg Orlov said that the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft’s crew had experienced a gravitational force of 6g without any problems during the emergency landing. This is thanks to the fact that cosmonauts are normally tested for enduring overloads during the process of their selection and pre-flight training.

Preliminary causes of the rocket’s failure

The causes of the abortive launch are not yet known. The Energomash Enterprise, which has developed engines for Soyuz rockets, and their producer, the Samara-based Kuznetsov Company (part of the United Engine-Making Corporation) declined to give any comments until the telemetric data were fully deciphered.

Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin has said he has flown to the site of the descent capsule’s landing. NASA has said it is working with Russian partners to get more information on the failure of the Soyuz rocket during its launch. A special commission has been set up to investigate the causes of the accident.

As a source at the Baikonur Cosmodrome told TASS, the preliminary analysis of the telemetry data suggests that the Soyuz-FG carrier rocket suffered an anomaly and its second stage went into an emergency shutdown.

A source in the Russian space industry told TASS it was unlikely that the rocket had been damaged on the eve of its launch at the Cosmodrome. "Security was tightened at the Baikonur spaceport ahead of the launch of the Soyuz MS-10," the source said.

International Space Station

The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) has sufficient food and water supplies and the failed launch of the Soyuz FG booster with the manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft will have no impact on the station’s work, a source at the Baikonur Cosmodrome told TASS on Thursday.

"There are sufficient food and water supplies on the station and the Soyuz failure will not affect the work of the station’s crew in any way," the source said.

The Institute of Medical and Biological Problems at the Russian Academy of Sciences has said that the scientific program on the International Space Station will be adjusted for the timetable of experiments due to the Soyuz rocket’s failure.

Space launch was insured for $70 million

The launch of the manned Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft was insured to the amount of 4.655 billion rubles ($70 million) at the Soglasie insurance company, according to information posted on the state procurement website.

Source: Russian spacecraft suffers setback in 165th second of flight, crew lands safely

[Orionid]

US, Russian astronauts land safely after rocket failure
October 11, 2018 by Dmitry Lovetsky And Vladimir Isachenkov © 2018 The Associated Press [PhysOrg]


The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz MS-10 space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, flies in the sky at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. The Russian rocket carries U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin. The two astronauts are making an emergency landing after a Russian booster rocket carrying them into orbit to the International Space Station has failed after launch. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

The problem came two minutes into the flight: The rocket carrying an American and a Russian to the International Space Station failed Thursday, triggering an emergency that sent their capsule into a steep, harrowing fall back to Earth.

The crew landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan, but the aborted mission dealt another blow to the troubled Russian space program that currently serves as the only way to deliver astronauts to the orbiting outpost. It also was the first such accident for Russia's manned program in over three decades.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos' Alexei Ovchinin had a brief period of weightlessness when the capsule separated from the malfunctioning Soyuz rocket at an altitude of about 50 kilometers (31 miles), then endured gravitational forces of 6-7 times more than is felt on Earth as they came down at a sharper-than-normal angle.

About a half-hour later, the capsule parachuted onto a barren area about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of the city of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.

"Thank God the crew is alive," said Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

All Russian manned launches were suspended pending an investigation into the failure, said Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov.

New NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who watched the launch at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome with his Russian counterpart, said Hague and Ovchinin were in good condition. He added that a "thorough investigation" will be conducted.


U.S. astronaut Nick Hague, right, and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, crew members of the mission to the International Space Station wave as they board the rocket prior to the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (Yuri Kochetkov, Pool Photo via AP)

Hague, 43, and Ovchinin, 47, lifted off at 2:40 p.m. (0840 GMT; 4:40 a.m. EDT). The astronauts were to dock at the space station six hours later and join an American, a Russian and a German on board.

But the three-stage Soyuz rocket suffered an unspecified failure of its second stage two minutes after launch. Russian news reports indicated that one of its four first-stage engines might have failed to jettison in sync with others, resulting in the second stage's shutdown and activating the automatic emergency rescue system.

For the crew in the capsule, events would have happened very quickly, NASA's deputy chief astronaut Reid Wiseman told reporters at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. An emergency light would have come on and, an instant later, the abort motors would fire to pull the capsule away from the rocket.

Wiseman said the only thing that went through his mind was "I hope they get down safe."

Search and rescue teams scrambled to recover the crew, and paratroopers were dropped to the site. Dzhezkazgan is about 450 kilometers (280 miles) northeast of Baikonur, and spacecraft returning from the space station normally land in that area.


The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz MS-10 space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, flies in the sky at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. The Russian rocket carries U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin. The two astronauts are making an emergency landing after a Russian booster rocket carrying them into orbit to the International Space Station has failed after launch. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Back at Baikonur, Bridenstine acknowledged in a NASA TV interview that "for a period of time, we didn't know what the situation was."

Hague's wife and parents anxiously awaited word at Baikonur, accompanied the whole time by a NASA astronaut who was in the same class as Hague. They all behaved admirably, according to Bridenstine, adding that Hague's wife, Catie, is an Air Force officer like her husband and also a public affairs officer.

"It was a tough day, no doubt, but at the end of the day, the training paid off for everybody," he said.

Still, Bridenstine said: "We are thrilled that even though it was a launch failure, all of the safety systems worked."

The astronauts were returned to Baikonur for medical checks and to see their families. They were spending the night there before heading to Star City, Russia's training center outside Moscow.


Smoke rise as the boosters of first stage of the Soyuz-FG rocket with Soyuz MS-10 space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, separate after the launch at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. The Russian rocket carries U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin. The two astronauts are making an emergency landing after a Russian booster rocket carrying them into orbit to the International Space Station has failed after launch. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

It was to be the first space mission for Hague, who joined NASA's astronaut corps in 2013 and might have to wait awhile for another shot. Ovchinin spent six months on the orbiting outpost in 2016.

Oleg Orlov, the head of Russia's main space medicine center, said the crew was trained to endure higher-than-usual gravity loads and were tightly strapped into their custom-made seats to help withstand the pressure.

Flight controllers kept the three space station residents informed, assuring them, "The boys have landed."

"Glad our friends are fine," space station commander Alexander Gerst, a European Space Agency astronaut from Germany, tweeted from orbit. "Spaceflight is hard. And we must keep trying for the benefit of humankind."

There was no immediate word on whether the space station crew might need to extend its own six-month mission. Two spacewalks planned for later this month were off indefinitely. Hague was supposed to be one of the spacewalkers.


Director General of the Russia state corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin, right, accompanies Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, crew members of the mission to the International Space Station, ISS, to the rocket prior the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (Yuri Kochetkov, Pool Photo via AP)

NASA said it's dusting off its plans for operating the space station without a crew, just in case the Russian investigation drags into next year.

Kenny Todd, a space station manager, said from Houston that the space station crew can stay on board until January. That's just a month beyond their expected mid-December return. Their Soyuz capsule is good for about 200 days in orbit.

If the Russian rockets remain grounded until it's time for the crew to come home, flight controllers could operate the station without anyone on board, Todd said.

It could operate like that for a long time, barring a major equipment failure, he added. But it will need to be staffed before SpaceX or Boeing launches its crew capsules next year, Todd said. Given that the space station is a $100 billion asset, Todd says it needs to have someone on board for the arrival of the commercial demo missions, for safety reasons.

While the Russian program has been dogged by a string of problems with other kinds of launches in recent years, Thursday's incident marked its first manned launch failure since September 1983, when a Soyuz exploded on the launch pad.


U.S. astronaut Nick Hague, right and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, member of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), walk prior the launch of Soyuz MS-10 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)

Borisov said Russia will fully share all relevant information with the U.S., which pays up to $82 million per ride to the space station.

"I hope that the American side will treat it with understanding," he said.

NASA's Bridenstine emphasized that collaboration with Roscosmos remains important.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have sunk to post-Cold War lows over conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, and allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential vote, but they have kept cooperating in space.

The Russian Soyuz spacecraft is currently the only vehicle for ferrying crews to the space station following the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle fleet. Russia stands to lose that monopoly with the arrival of SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's Starliner crew capsules.


U.S. astronaut Nick Hague, member of the main crew to the International Space Station (ISS), waves to his sons from a bus prior to the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)

In August, the space station crew found a hole in a Soyuz capsule docked to the orbiting outpost that caused a brief loss of air pressure before being patched. Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin raised wide concern by saying the leak was a drill hole that was made intentionally during manufacturing or in orbit. He didn't say if he suspected any of the station's crew.

In the 1983 launch failure, cosmonauts Vladimir Titov and Gennady Strekalov jettisoned and landed safely near the launch pad after the Soyuz explosion.

"It's an unpleasant situation," Titov told the Tass news agency Thursday. "We went through it, and it was very bad."
He added that it will take about a week for the crew to fully recover.

In 1975, the failure of a Soyuz upper stage sent Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov into a fiery fall to Earth from an altitude of 190 kilometers, subjecting them to enormous G-forces that caused them to black out and temporarily lose sight. They landed on a snowy mountain slope and spent two nights in the cold before rescue crews reached them.


U.S. astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, right, members of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), speak with their relatives through a safety glass prior to the launch of Soyuz MS-10 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Russia has continued to rely on Soviet-designed rockets for commercial satellites, as well as crews and cargo to the space station.

While Russian rockets earned a reputation for reliability in the past, the recent launch failures have cast doubt on Russia's ability to maintain its high standards.

Glitches found in Russia's Proton and Soyuz rockets in 2016 were traced to manufacturing flaws. Roscosmos sent more than 70 rocket engines back to production lines to replace faulty components, a move that resulted in a yearlong break in Proton launches and badly dented Russia's niche in the global market for commercial launches.


U.S. astronaut Nick Hague, a member of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), gestures prior to the launch of Soyuz MS-10 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)


U.S. astronaut Nick Hague, right and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, member of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), walk prior to the launch of Soyuz MS-10 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)


U.S. astronaut Nick Hague, right and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, member of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), walk prior to the launch of Soyuz MS-10 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)


U.S. astronaut Nick Hague, right and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, member of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), speak prior to the launch of Soyuz MS-10 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)


U.S. astronaut Nick Hague, a member of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), speaks with his relatives through a safety glass prior to the launch of Soyuz MS-10 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)


Russian Space Agency experts help U.S. astronaut Nick Hague, a member of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), to stand up after inspecting his space suit prior to the launch of Soyuz MS-10 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Source: US, Russian astronauts land safely after rocket failure

[Orionid]

NASA official: Tense moments but calm crew in aborted launch
October 12, 2018 by Vladimir Isachenkov © 2018 The Associated Press


In this photo made available by Roscosmos on Friday, Oct. 12. 2018, agency leader Dmitry Rogozin, center, embraces cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin, left, and U.S. astronaut Nick Hague at Star City, Russia, a space training center outside Moscow. After an aborted launch on Thursday, Rogozin promised that Hague and Ovchinin will be given another chance soon to work on the International Space Station. (Roscosmos via AP)

NASA's chief heard one reassuring sound over the radio link after the aborted launch of a Soyuz capsule with an American and a Russian aboard.

It was U.S. astronaut Nick Hague calmly relaying information in Russian to flight controllers.

"My reaction was, 'things aren't going well and he's not speaking English,'" NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters Friday, after Hague and Roscosmos' Alexei Ovchinin returned to the Star City training center outside Moscow from their abruptly shortened mission.

"So, in other words, he was calm, he was cool, he was collected, he was doing what he was trained to do," said Bridenstine, who was at the Baikonur Cosmodrome to watch the launch.

Two minutes after Hague and Ovchinin blasted off Thursday for the International Space Station, their rocket failed, triggering an emergency landing. Their capsule fell from an altitude of about 50 kilometers (31 miles) at a sharper-than-normal angle, building up gravitational forces at 6-7 times those on Earth.

It was the first such accident for Russia's manned program in over three decades, although there also have been launch failures in recent years involving unmanned vehicles. An investigation is underway, and Bridenstine said he doesn't expect the next mission taking a crew to the space station in December to be delayed.


Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jim Bridenstine enters the hall before a news conference at the U.S. embassy in Moscow in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct. 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
He recalled the tense moment when he heard Hague reporting the G-forces in Russian to Mission Control, followed by a break in communications and the loss of flight data.

"There was the time when I heard 6.7G, and that was the first time I realized that's not right," he said. "And then of course data was lost, communications was lost for a period of time, and then everybody went to their respective corners attempting to find out what the truth is. And when we learned that the crew was safe and descending it was a moment to behold. A lot of people very, very happy."

Hague's calm voice showed he was well-trained for the emergency, although there was still a nervous atmosphere at Baikonur, Bridenstine said.

"That's the scary moment, you know, when you know that the Gs are not where they should be and then communications stops and I'm sure that they are going through their procedures and doing their thing and the question is what's the ultimate G-load ... and how does that affect the crew," he said. "And during that time we weren't getting a lot of feedback, but again that's appropriate because they were busy and we were OK with that."


Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jim Bridenstine speaks during a news conference at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct. 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Bridenstine praised the Soyuz emergency rescue system, saying it functioned like a "miracle."

"Even when a failure occurs, because of the engineering and the design and the great work done by folks in Russia, the crew can be safe," he said. "That's an amazing capability and we can't understate how important it is. Not every mission that fails ends up so successfully."

Hague also expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you all for your support & heartfelt prayers," he tweeted from Star City. "Operational teams were outstanding in ensuring our safety & returning us to family & friends."

Sergei Krikalyov, the head of Roscosmos' manned programs, said the launch went awry after one of the rocket's four boosters failed to jettison about two minutes into the flight, damaging the main stage and triggering the emergency.


Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jim Bridenstine speaks during a news conference at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct. 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Experts are now trying to determine what specific glitch prevented the booster's separation.

"We will need to look and analyze the specific cause—whether it was a cable, a pyro or a nut," Krikalyov said, adding that Roscosmos hopes to be able to sort out the problem and carry out the next Soyuz launch in December.

Roscosmos promised to share all relevant information with NASA, which pays up to $82 million per Soyuz seat to the space station.

"I have no anticipation right now that the launch in December for the next crew will be delayed," Bridenstine said. "The investigation is ongoing, Russia has been very supportive of sharing data with the United States and we're grateful for that. And at this point I'm confident that we'll launch in December."

The current space station crew of an American, a Russian and a German was scheduled to return to Earth in December after a six-month mission. A Soyuz capsule attached to the station that they use to ride back to Earth is designed for 200 days in space, meaning that their stay in orbit could only be extended briefly.


In this photo provided by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, the Soyuz MS-10 space capsule lays in a field after an emergency landing near Dzhezkazgan, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) northeast of Baikonur, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos' Alexei Ovchinin lifted off as scheduled at 2:40 p.m. (0840 GMT; 4:40 a.m. EDT) Thursday from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but their Soyuz booster rocket failed about two minutes after the launch. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)

"We don't have an opportunity to extend it for a long time," Krikalyov said.

Krikalyov pledged that the Russian space agency will do its best not to leave the orbiting outpost unoccupied.

"The station could fly in an unmanned mode, but will do all we can to avoid it," he said. "The conservation of the station is possible, but it's undesirable."

Russia currently operates the only spacecraft for ferrying crews to the station following the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle fleet, but it stands to lose that monopoly in the coming years with the arrival of commercial U.S. crew capsules—SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's Starliner.

"We're getting really close already," Bridenstine said. "We are anxiously anticipating early next year the test of two separate commercial crew vehicles that will fly to the International Space Station—SpaceX ad Boeing."


The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz MS-10 space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station, ISS, blasts off at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018. Two astronauts from the U.S. and Russia are making an emergency landing after a Russian booster rocket carrying them into orbit to the International Space Station has failed after launch. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

He said that the launch failure underlined the need for multiple launch systems to complement one another.

"In other words, if there is a hiccup in one country's system, there is another country's system capable of maintaining the operation until the first country is ready to go again," he said. "This demonstrates how important it is to have collaboration and to not be dependent on one system or another system."

But he also underlined the need for continuing U.S.-Russian cooperation in space, voicing hope that it wouldn't be affected by politics.

"We can both do more in space together than we can ever do alone," Bridenstine said. "When it comes to space and exploration and discovery and science, our two nations have always kept those activities separate from the disputes that we have terrestrially."

Source: NASA official: Tense moments but calm crew in aborted launch

[Orionid]

NASA astronaut still confident in Soyuz after launch abort
by Jeff Foust — October 16, 2018


Astronaut Nick Hague (left) and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin prior to the Oct. 11 aborted launch of the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft. Hague said in interviews Oct. 16 he had "complete confidence" in the spacecraft despite the accident. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

WASHINGTON — The NASA astronaut who was on the aborted Soyuz mission to the International Space Station says he has “complete confidence” in the Russians despite this launch failure and other problems, and looks forward to flying again on the spacecraft.

In his first public interviews since the aborted flight of the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft Oct. 11, Nick Hague described the “one wild ride” he had on that flight, which he said reinforced his belief that the spacecraft is safe.

“In terms of whether I have second thoughts about the Soyuz, this has only helped to solidify my appreciation for how robust that system is,” he said during a series of interviews Oct. 16 with preselected media broadcast on NASA TV. During the interviews he expressed thanks multiple times to the thousands of people who work on the Soyuz spacecraft, in particular its launch escape system that pulled the spacecraft from its launch vehicle during last week’s accident.

Neither that accident nor the discovery in August of a small hole in the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft currently docked to the International Space Station, both of which are under investigation by the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, have shaken Hague’s confidence in the spacecraft. “I have no reason to doubt their ability to find solutions to these problems,” he said. “I’ve got complete confidence in them being able to deliver.”

Hague said that nothing appeared to be amiss with the launch for the first two minutes after the Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. “It was right after the first staging, when the boosters started to separate, it went from ‘normal’ to ‘something was wrong’ pretty quick,” he recalled.

The automated abort system for the Soyuz spacecraft activated and pulled the spacecraft away from the booster, he said, so that he and cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin were “shaken fairly violently, side to side” for a moment as the abort motors burned. Only after the abort system pulled the Soyuz away, he said, did warning lights indicating a booster failure turn on in the capsule.

At that moment, he recalled, “it was a pretty crystal-clear realization that we weren’t going to make it to orbit that day.”

For the rest of the suborbital flight of the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft, Hague said he focused on carrying out the procedures for such an abort that he and Ovchinin had trained for. “What kicks in is the training,” he said. “The thing that I can do to help us get down on the ground as safe as possible is try to stay as calm and as focused as I can, and do the things that I need to do to make us be successful.”

While this was his first spaceflight, he noted he’s had experience in other emergency situations. “It’s not the first high-pressure situation that I’ve been in. I think that’s something that my background has helped prepare me for this moment,” said Hague, a U.S. Air Force pilot whose career included flying combat missions in Iraq.

Only after the capsule landed safely in the Kazakh steppes downrange from Baikonur was he able to “take a deep breath” and reflect on the experience. He and Ovchinin were also finally able to relax, despite being upside down inside the capsule. “We had grins from ear to ear,” he said. “He holds out a hand, I shake his hand, and then we start cracking a few jokes between us about how short our flight was.”

Hague said he was still interested in going to the ISS and expected a flight opportunity, but no decisions have been made about when that would take place. Russian officials have suggested that Hague and Ovchinin could fly as soon as next spring.

For now, he said he’s taking time off to spend with his family, talking with them about the experience and his future plans. He said he expected an assignment from NASA’s Astronaut Office next week on near-term work pending a new mission to the station.

“I really don’t have any clue” about when he might get another trip to the station, he said. “I feel really fortunate to be able to walk away from an incident like that with barely a bump or a bruise. I feel in good shape and I’m ready to get back in it, so I’m here and ready to go when I’m called upon.”

Source: NASA astronaut still confident in Soyuz after launch abort

[Orionid]

Источник рассказал, как повредили при сборке блок "Союза"
03:07 20.10.2018 (обновлено: 18:51 20.10.2018) РИА Новости


© РИА Новости / Алексей Филиппов

МОСКВА, 20 окт — РИА Новости. Сборщики на Байконуре с силой соединяли боковой блок ракеты "Союз-ФГ" с центральным, погнули один из выступов крепления и нанесли внутрь смазку, чтобы он вышел при разделении в полете, сообщил РИА Новости источник в ракетно-космической отрасли, знакомый с ходом расследования.

По его словам, на подпятнике — специальном углублении на центральном блоке второй ступени — по бокам расположены два паза, на шаровой опоре бокового блока первой ступени — два выступа, а на передней части — шток, который при заведении в подпятник зажимается.

"Когда он разжимается, то идет сигнал на пирозамок открытия крышки реактивного сопла бака окислителя, чтобы отвести боковой блок от центрального. Сборщики при монтаже, когда соединяли ступени в "пакет" (четыре блока первой и вторая ступень. — Прим. ред.), слегка загнули левый выступ, он не сразу вошел в паз — и его вогнали с силой. Когда ступень опустилась на него всей массой, выступы, по сути, встали в распорку. Чтобы при разделении ступень легче вышла, в отверстие нанесли смазку", — рассказал собеседник агентства.

Таким образом, из-за погнутого выступа шаровая опора бокового блока не могла легко выйти из подпятника и во время полета протаранила центральный блок, а потом, при выходе, датчик штока все же сработал и клапан открылся, но к тому времени уже произошла аварийная ситуация, пояснил он.

По словам источника, на заседании аварийной комиссии в Ракетно-космическом центре "Прогресс" в Самаре поднимался вопрос о культуре производства, однако специалисты заявили, что подобные отклонения от технологической документации сборки ракеты случаются время от времени.

Ранее источник рассказал, что комиссия "Роскосмоса" и следственные органы определили возможных виновных в повреждении одного из датчиков ракеты-носителя "Союз-ФГ" и госкомиссия склоняется к версии о "случайном отступлении от документации" сборщиками на Байконуре.

Сегодня госкомиссия должна подписать окончательные результаты расследования и представить их главе "Роскосмоса" Дмитрию Рогозину, а общественности о них сообщат в начале следующей недели, сообщили РИА Новости в госкорпорации.

Авария при старте "Союза"

Одиннадцатого октября произошла первая в истории современной России авария в пилотируемой космонавтике. Ракета-носитель "Союз-ФГ" не смогла вывести на орбиту космический корабль "Союз МС-10" с новым экипажем МКС.

На борту находились россиянин Алексей Овчинин и американец Ник Хейг. Им удалось эвакуироваться на Землю в спасательной капсуле.

Россия приостановила пилотируемые пуски.

источник: Источник рассказал, как повредили при сборке блок "Союза"

[Orionid]

Crewed Soyuz flights set to resume after Russia blames close call on final-assembly error
by Matthew Bodner — November 1, 2018


Liftoff of the Soyuz rocket carrying the Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft Oct. 11. Credit: NASA

MOSCOW — Accident investigators confirmed that the failed Soyuz launch to the International Space Station three weeks ago was caused by a damaged sensor in the booster package, a fault attributed to the final assembly stage of the rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Oleg Skorobogatov, deputy director of Russia’s Central Research Institute of Machine Building (TsNIIMASH) told reporters here Nov. 1.

As was clear from video of the Oct. 11 launch, the flight of Soyuz MS-10 was aborted 118 seconds after liftoff when one of the rocket’s four side boosters failed to eject properly — colliding with the rocket’s second stage, damaging the lower portion of the rocket and sending the entire assembly into a spin, triggering an automated abort that jettisoned the crewed capsule.

“The cause of the abnormal separation was the lid of the oxidizer tank’s nozzle in Block D did not open due to a deformation (6-degree bend) of the contact sensor during assembly of the package at the Baikonur Cosmodrome,” Skorobogatov was quoted by TASS as saying. “This was the cause of the off-nominal separation.”

The accident investigation commission says that it has developed new guidelines and checks to ensure that future Soyuz rockets do not run into similar problems, and that two launch vehicles slated for imminent launch — one at Baikonur and one at the ESA launch complex in Guiana — are being reassembled to ensure that they, too, are in working order.
With the cause of the Oct. 11 failure identified, crewed launches of Soyuz-FG launch vehicles are set to resume. The next launch is scheduled for Dec. 3. Last week, the Russian Defense Ministry demonstrated that the problem with Soyuz MS-10 was not universal when it conducted a Soyuz 2 launch from its cosmodrome in Plesetsk.

NASA didn’t comment on the specific findings of the Roscosmos investigation. “NASA is working closely with its International Space Station partner Roscosmos to move forward on crew launch plans,” NASA spokesperson Stephanie Schierholz said Nov. 1.

NASA has its own team working alongside Roscosmos to gather insight from the investigation, she said. That team will help “inform NASA’s decision on launch readiness that will be made during the flight readiness review” for the Soyuz MS-11 mission now scheduled for a Dec. 3 launch.

A week earlier, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine praised Roscosmos for keeping NASA informed about the investigation. “Roscosmos has been very transparent with NASA on the failed launch of the Soyuz,” he said in an Oct. 25 speech. “I am very confident with where we are that we will launch again in December and that there will be no gap in human activity on the International Space Station.”

Along with the commission’s findings, Roscosmos on Nov. 1 released a video on its social media feeds taken from the body of the Soyuz MS-10 rocket. The video runs from launch until moments after the side booster struck the rocket, knocking it off course. The video provides a previously unseen vantage point of one of the most serious launch failures in years.

NASA separately announced Nov. 1 a media availability for Anne McClain, the NASA astronaut on the Soyuz MS-11 mission. That release noted she and her crewmates “are targeted to launch” Dec. 3, and will remain on the ISS until June 2019.

SpaceNews senior staff writer Jeff Foust contributed from Washington.

Source: Crewed Soyuz flights set to resume after Russia blames close call on final-assembly error