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  Backup site for Russian manned launches

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Author Topic:   Backup site for Russian manned launches
Fezman92
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Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010

posted 03-04-2012 06:32 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Fezman92   Click Here to Email Fezman92     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Hypothetically let's say that Kazakhstan has a revolution or an election that causes it to become a dictatorship. The government then throws the Russians out of Baikonur and Russia cannot negotiate with the new government or otherwise cannot get back to Baikonur (I know this is very unlikely).

What would they do for manned launches? Would they use the French New Guinea site?

Robert Pearlman
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Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 03-04-2012 07:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Though once floated as a possibility, manned launches from the French Guiana spaceport are not likely. SPACE.com obtained a technical paper about a 2004 study, which was conducted by ESA's launcher directorate and its "Soyuz at the Guiana Space Centre" program.
According to the paper, "the [Soyuz] re-entry capsule has not been designed to travelling on water and its evacuation following splash-down in the ocean in the event of an aborted launch may result in a particularly difficult experience for the crew." Such difficulty puts the lives of the crew at greater risk.

ESA has not made the full study report available in time for publication. Since 2004, ESA has done no further work to tackle this issue.

In response to the report's findings, ESA officials told SPACE.com, "theoretically all is possible but manned flights from [French Guiana] would be a major endeavor, requiring huge investments."

That said, Russia has been working towards replace Baikonur with a launch site in the country's far east, the Vostochny Cosmodrome.

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