Thrusters on Soyuz docked to ISS fire improperly
The thrusters on the Soyuz capsule to be used to return the two filmmakers and one Russian astronaut back to Earth on October 17th would not stop firing when they were supposed to during routine testing in preparation for undocking.
From the NASA announcement, which by the way buried this event in the announcement’s eighth paragraph:
At 5:02 a.m. EDT today, Russian flight controllers conducted a scheduled thruster firing test on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft that is scheduled to return to Earth Saturday night with three crew members aboard. The thruster firing unexpectedly continued after the end of the test window, resulting in a loss of attitude control for the International Space Station at 5:13 a.m. Within 30 minutes, flight controllers regained attitude control of the space station, which is now in a stable configuration. The crew was awake at the time of the event and was not in any danger.
Flight controllers are continuing to evaluate data on the station’s brief attitude change due to the thruster firing. NASA and Roscosmos are collaborating to understand the root cause.
According to the first link, the thrusters tilted the entire station 57 degrees from its correct orientation.
Not only do they not know why the thrusters did not shut down when commanded, they do not know why they eventually stopped firing. They suspect it was because the thrusters ran out of fuel, but this is not yet confirmed.
The Russians still plan to use this Soyuz to return the film crew in two days. The story does not say whether these thrusters are needed in any way to deorbit the capsule.
That’s the second uncontrolled thruster firing from a Russian spacecraft docked to ISS in less than three months. Yet, no such thing had occurred for many decades prior to this. In fact, the last such events that I can remember occurred in the 1960s.
Why such events are suddenly occurring now with such frequency is very concerning, to put it mildly. It brings to my mind the drilled hole in an earlier Soyuz capsule, a hole that was clearly drilled in Russia when the capsule was on the ground and then covered up so it was not detected until the capsule was docked to ISS. The Russians investigated, said they solved the mystery, but have never told anyone what that solution was.
To paraphrase Shakespeare, something is very rotten in Roscosmos.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The thrusters on the Soyuz capsule to be used to return the two filmmakers and one Russian astronaut back to Earth on October 17th would not stop firing when they were supposed to during routine testing in preparation for undocking.
From the NASA announcement, which by the way buried this event in the announcement’s eighth paragraph:
At 5:02 a.m. EDT today, Russian flight controllers conducted a scheduled thruster firing test on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft that is scheduled to return to Earth Saturday night with three crew members aboard. The thruster firing unexpectedly continued after the end of the test window, resulting in a loss of attitude control for the International Space Station at 5:13 a.m. Within 30 minutes, flight controllers regained attitude control of the space station, which is now in a stable configuration. The crew was awake at the time of the event and was not in any danger.
Flight controllers are continuing to evaluate data on the station’s brief attitude change due to the thruster firing. NASA and Roscosmos are collaborating to understand the root cause.
According to the first link, the thrusters tilted the entire station 57 degrees from its correct orientation.
Not only do they not know why the thrusters did not shut down when commanded, they do not know why they eventually stopped firing. They suspect it was because the thrusters ran out of fuel, but this is not yet confirmed.
The Russians still plan to use this Soyuz to return the film crew in two days. The story does not say whether these thrusters are needed in any way to deorbit the capsule.
That’s the second uncontrolled thruster firing from a Russian spacecraft docked to ISS in less than three months. Yet, no such thing had occurred for many decades prior to this. In fact, the last such events that I can remember occurred in the 1960s.
Why such events are suddenly occurring now with such frequency is very concerning, to put it mildly. It brings to my mind the drilled hole in an earlier Soyuz capsule, a hole that was clearly drilled in Russia when the capsule was on the ground and then covered up so it was not detected until the capsule was docked to ISS. The Russians investigated, said they solved the mystery, but have never told anyone what that solution was.
To paraphrase Shakespeare, something is very rotten in Roscosmos.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Bob’s post on the Soyuz thrusters is further confirmation of an observation made by Edward a few days ago: “This is the middle of the end of the Soviet space program. The beginning of the end came when it was nationalized (centralized) in 2013.”
The decline of Russian Space leaves open opportunities for other countries to step up. For example I wish future success for the Modi government of India in their quest to encourage private commercial space. Or maybe Brazil could step up ( or perhaps it is true that “Brazil is the country of the future… and always will be,”).
Does anyone on BtB have a contact in the Indian or Brazilian Governments and can get them a copy of Bob’s policy paper ‘Capitalism in Space: Private Enterprise and Competition Reshape the Global Aerospace Launch Industry’?
This capsule is supposed to take the actress and director back in the next few days. If it’s thrusters are out of fuel what then? They stay till a new Soyuz can be sent up? Piloted by one cosmonaut? Then he stays behind, and they have to remove a crew member from the next planned one so there is an empty seat for him on the return trip? Or, now that no one will ever know since reporting on roscosmos in Russia is now illegal and will get you marked as a foreign agent, do they ask NASA to hookup a fifth seat and add a spare suit to dragon crew 3.
“The crew was awake at the time of the event and was not in any danger.” Understatement of the year. Oh, lets be honest and just call it a lie.
The Russian space program continues to embarrass itself. “Made in Russia” is a joke. Time for SpaceX to shine!! Crew Dragon to the rescue!!!
So the Russians cannot trust the SpaceX Crew Dragon because it doesn’t have enough flight heritage, but we can trust outdated poorly manufactured equipment with heritage? Methinks someone is bound to get hurt.
The irony would be off the scale if Roscosmos had to purchase a SpaceX Dragon launch to retrieve their cosmonauts. Of course, this would never happen in reality. Roscosmos would order the crew into the capsule and they would have to white knuckle it down hoping that they weren’t lied to about everything being “perfectly fine”.
Some see opportunity where others see mishaps.
Sounds like a great scene to add some action for a movie set in space. Did they, by any chance, have a film crew anywhere close?
Use up the fuel so the hottie can’t leave….that was the plan. “It’s cold outside…”
Awesome plan. Next, buddy breathing after the oxygen generator goes south. Ok, that a stretch.
Hey guys, help me out here.
Heater goes out. Body heat time—no…you go to the Zvezda comrade! I call dibs on Unity!