Third stage separation focus of Progress failure investigation
The circumstances behind the failure of Russia’s Progress freighter this week are now pointing to the moment when the freighter separated from the Soyuz rocket’s third stage.
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The circumstances behind the failure of Russia’s Progress freighter this week are now pointing to the moment when the freighter separated from the Soyuz rocket’s third stage.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Given all the chatter about abnormal burn time on the third stage and a cloud of debris, I wouldn’t be surprised if something in the third stage propulsion system failed/exploded. This would account for damage to the Progress that might have prevented deployment of the Kurs antennae and ruptured the Progress’ own propellant tanks, further accounting both for the uncontrolled spin and the talk about the flight controllers inability to pressurize the system.
It makes me wonder though, since this brings their modernized rocket into question, could they not fall back on the older design until the problem is traced? I can’t imagine that the Russians who have been flying this design for so many years would be as stupid as Congress was with the Saturn program and actually scrap the hardware used to build the stages. Naw, couldn’t be. In any case, this is a prime opportunity for Space X to pull everyone’s collective butts out of the fire.