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Soyuz update -
The air leak is in the Soyuz spacecrafts descent module, the center section used as the command section and to return its crew to Earth. This would be a fatal flaw.
There are 2 suspected causes: either it was cast from a faulty batch of metal, or during earlier pressure tests it was pressurized beyond the 1.5 atmospere limit - perhaps as high as 3.5 atmospheres.
Late info from Russia is that because no completed Soyuz is available they may have to remove the existing Soyuz from it's launcher, separate its 3 modules, replace the faulty module, reassemble the spacecraft and re-integrate ot to the launcher.
Link....
The air leak is in the Soyuz spacecrafts descent module, the center section used as the command section and to return its crew to Earth. This would be a fatal flaw.
There are 2 suspected causes: either it was cast from a faulty batch of metal, or during earlier pressure tests it was pressurized beyond the 1.5 atmospere limit - perhaps as high as 3.5 atmospheres.
Late info from Russia is that because no completed Soyuz is available they may have to remove the existing Soyuz from it's launcher, separate its 3 modules, replace the faulty module, reassemble the spacecraft and re-integrate ot to the launcher.
Link....
Soyuz probe might shake up ISS plans
CAPE CANAVERAL —
An investigation into a Soyuz spacecraft test failure could prompt delays in the launches of new crews to the International Space Station, but officials expect to maintain full staffing on the outpost nonetheless.
The six astronauts and cosmonauts now aboard the station all launched about two months later than initially planned. So their stays can be extended, officials said. The Soyuz spacecraft they flew to the station are certified to remain at the outpost through May and early July, respectively.
"We're not expecting any huge rush to get them back," Kelly Humphries, a spokesman for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said Monday.
A Soyuz spacecraft being readied for the planned March 29 launch of U.S. astronaut Joe Acaba and two Russian cosmonauts -- Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin -- malfunctioned during a recent pressurization test in an altitude chamber at Energia Space Rocket Corp. in Moscow.
Alexei Krasnov, chief of human spaceflight with the Russian Federal Space Agency, told Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency that a committee was formed to determine the severity of the problem.
He did not rule out the possibility of delays in the March 29 launch or another now scheduled for May 30. Krasnov said decisions on the launch schedule could be made as early as this week.
Humphries said NASA officials "are working with our Russian partners to determine what happened."
"It's too early to know whether this will impact our schedules."
U.S. astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are scheduled to blast off on the May 30 flight.
The Soyuz trouble is the latest to hit the Russian aerospace industry. A series of rocket and spacecraft failures have plagued the industry over the past 13 months.
The station would have been temporarily evacuated late last year had an investigation into an Aug. 24 Soyuz rocket failure dragged on. Astronauts and cosmonauts would have had to return to Earth to avoid exceeding 200-day Soyuz orbital lifespans.
The U.S. retired its space shuttle orbiter fleet last July. Russian Soyuz rockets and spacecraft are now the only vehicles capable of transporting astronauts and cosmonauts on round trips to the station.
NASA is investing in the development of commercial space taxis, but those craft won't be ready to fly until later this decade. The U.S. will pay Russia more than $1 billion between now and then to fly American and partner-nation astronauts to and from the station.
CAPE CANAVERAL —
An investigation into a Soyuz spacecraft test failure could prompt delays in the launches of new crews to the International Space Station, but officials expect to maintain full staffing on the outpost nonetheless.
The six astronauts and cosmonauts now aboard the station all launched about two months later than initially planned. So their stays can be extended, officials said. The Soyuz spacecraft they flew to the station are certified to remain at the outpost through May and early July, respectively.
"We're not expecting any huge rush to get them back," Kelly Humphries, a spokesman for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said Monday.
A Soyuz spacecraft being readied for the planned March 29 launch of U.S. astronaut Joe Acaba and two Russian cosmonauts -- Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin -- malfunctioned during a recent pressurization test in an altitude chamber at Energia Space Rocket Corp. in Moscow.
Alexei Krasnov, chief of human spaceflight with the Russian Federal Space Agency, told Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency that a committee was formed to determine the severity of the problem.
He did not rule out the possibility of delays in the March 29 launch or another now scheduled for May 30. Krasnov said decisions on the launch schedule could be made as early as this week.
Humphries said NASA officials "are working with our Russian partners to determine what happened."
"It's too early to know whether this will impact our schedules."
U.S. astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are scheduled to blast off on the May 30 flight.
The Soyuz trouble is the latest to hit the Russian aerospace industry. A series of rocket and spacecraft failures have plagued the industry over the past 13 months.
The station would have been temporarily evacuated late last year had an investigation into an Aug. 24 Soyuz rocket failure dragged on. Astronauts and cosmonauts would have had to return to Earth to avoid exceeding 200-day Soyuz orbital lifespans.
The U.S. retired its space shuttle orbiter fleet last July. Russian Soyuz rockets and spacecraft are now the only vehicles capable of transporting astronauts and cosmonauts on round trips to the station.
NASA is investing in the development of commercial space taxis, but those craft won't be ready to fly until later this decade. The U.S. will pay Russia more than $1 billion between now and then to fly American and partner-nation astronauts to and from the station.
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