Almost 12 hours later...

[alexpgp]

The flood of radiogram traffic appears to be subsiding, as the visiting crew starts to wind up its activities and get ready to take the old Soyuz back to the ground. The pressure today was noticeably not as high today as it was earlier in the week.

I'm still on the MCC, taking care of my own stuff on my own time, but all good things must come to an end, so I'm going home and resting.

I have a 20-page item due on Monday morning that I really need to start on tonight, but... we'll see.

Cheers...

Comments

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, and in case you know, do the Russians refurbish and reuse the old Soyuz craft, or are they one-shot systems?

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Well, considering that I interpreted for three astronauts being taught how to fly a Soyuz... I almost feel qualified to land one myself (but that's another story).

The Soyuz is an old-fashioned, one shot space vehicle. The fact that it is reliable and requires only a modicum of skill to "fly" (relatively speaking) once the descent module separates from the rest of the craft is what won it the role of "crew return vehicle" (read: lifeboat) on both the Mir and ISS.

After separation, the reentry pretty much resembles that of the old Mercury capsules. Having fired "retrorockets" to slow the itself down, it angles down into the atmosphere, presenting an ablative heat shield to the air building up in front of it. Once through the atmosphere, a parachute opens and the DM drifts down to earth. A meter or two above the surface, a final rocket burn is supposed to soften the landing, which I've been told is bone-jarring under the best of circumstances.

The only "problem" with the Soyuz is that it can only serve as a lifeboat for about 6 months at a time, which is the length of time the seals are rated for while the vehicle is docked to another module.

(Prolly way more than you wanna know, but...)

Cheers...

Re:

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

Thanks - that answers the question very nicely ;)