posted 09-17-2016 10:17 AM               

Soyuz MS-02: viewing, questions, comments

This thread is intended for comments and questions about the Soyuz MS-02 mission.

Soyuz MS-02 will launch three new crewmembers to the International Space Station: NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrei Borisenko.

Soyuz MS-02 is the 131st flight of a Soyuz spacecraft since 1967.

posted 09-17-2016 10:25 AM               

RIA Novosti, citing a source, reported the delay was due to a short circuit found during routine testing of the Soyuz FG rocket's fairing.

During the tests at Baikonur docked to the launch vehicle of the second ship of the new series Soyuz MS-02, according to the preliminary reasons, revealed a short circuit. A new launch date will be announced later, but most likely the start does not take place until early October 2016, the source said.

posted 09-20-2016 03:13 AM               

"Yesterday a meeting of the state commission was held that took a decision on the Soyuz launch on November 1," the NASA representative said.

posted 09-20-2016 03:08 PM               

According to industry sources, the delay was caused by a short circuit, which took place during roll-on of the payload fairing, which protects the spacecraft during its ascent through the atmosphere. The problem was not detected until the vehicle had been rotated back to a vertical position and was being prepared for the second fit check at Site 254 in Baikonur. The situation was complicated by the fact that engineers could not immediately identify the location of the short circuit in the fully assembled spacecraft. Preliminary estimates indicated that such an issue inside the descent module, SA, could require several weeks to fix, however if the problem was in the instrument module, PAO, it could take several months to resolve.

In worst case scenario, mission officials might decide to replace the Soyuz vehicle No. 732, which was affected by the problem, with Vehicle No. 733 originally intended for the Soyuz MS-03 mission. According to the official Russian media, the launch of the Soyuz MS-02 might be postponed until at least the beginning of October.

posted 09-22-2016 03:53 PM               

Sources close to investigation told RussianSpaceWeb.com that a cable located behind cosmonaut seats inside the Descent Module of the Vehicle No. 732 had accidentally been bent severely enough to damage its insulation. As it turned out, the problem had nothing to do with the encapsulation of the spacecraft inside its payload fairing on September 15, as it was initially thought.

Replacing the damaged cable is relatively straight forward, but it now has to be conducted on the vehicle fully loaded with toxic propellants and pressurized gases. Such an attempt would violate usual safety rules, but draining the spacecraft off its propellants and gases would likely be even more unprecedented and require lengthy repairs.

posted 09-26-2016 11:30 AM               

By September 26, 2016, ISS officials considered following provisional schedule in the wake of Soyuz MS-02 delays:

• October 7: The crew return to Baikonur;

• October 8: The final crew training and spacesuit fit check;

• October 14: Progress MS-02 cargo ship undocking and deorbiting;

• October 19: Soyuz MS-02 launch.

posted 09-26-2016 02:23 PM            

Member of the new International Space Station crew Sergey Ryzhikov is going to take icons, the Gospels, letters from his relatives, and stones from Mount Tabor.

posted 10-06-2016 01:27 PM               

• Soyuz MS-02 is scheduled for launch on Oct. 19, 2016.
  
• Soyuz MS-03 is scheduled for launch on Nov. 16, 2016.
  
• Progress MS-04 is scheduled for launch on Dec. 1, 2016

posted 10-21-2016 12:55 PM            

Poor Shane Kimbrough had to settle for one of his bosses. I did like the quip from someone congratulating the new crew docking at ISS and not Tiangong-2.

posted 04-10-2017 02:13 AM               

The following times are in Central Daylight Time (CDT, GMT+5) on April 10:

• 2:56 a.m.: Soyuz Undock Command Sent
  
• 2:57 a.m.: Soyuz Undocking from Space Station
  
• 3:00 a.m.: Separation Burn 1
  
• 3:01 a.m.: Separation Burn 2
  
• 5:28 a.m.: Soyuz Deorbit Burn (4 minutes, 38 seconds duration)
  
• 5:55 a.m.: Soyuz Module Separation (altitude ~87 miles)
  
• 5:58 a.m.: Soyuz Atmospheric Entry (altitude ~62 miles)
  
• 6:06 a.m.: Command to Open Chutes (altitude 6.7 miles)
  
• 6:21 a.m.: Soyuz MS-02 landing southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan

posted 04-10-2017 06:29 AM               

Live video from Kazakhstan caught seldom-seen views the venting of hydrogen peroxide from the spacecraft's control system and the jettison of the heat shield soon after the main parachute deployed.

posted 04-17-2017 12:28 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Live video from Kazakhstan caught seldom-seen views the venting of hydrogen peroxide from the spacecraft's control system...

---

I was looking at my landing photos from last week with fresh eyes. The first frames I shot had the Soyuz so small in the frame that I dismissed them. After a more careful review, and zooming in like crazy, I noticed that I had caught the hydrogen peroxide purge which I had never seen before.

posted 10-17-2017 02:09 PM               

...Thomas Stafford, a former astronaut, said the incident took place when the main parachute of the Soyuz spacecraft deployed about eight kilometers above the landing site in Kazakhstan. A buckle that is part of the parachute system struck the capsule.

"The buckle struck a welding seam and, as a result, there was a depressurizing event that resulted in some air escaping the capsule," he said.

...The partial loss of pressure did not put the crew in jeopardy, Stafford said. A valve normally opens once the capsule descends to an altitude of five kilometers to allow outside air into the capsule. The crewmembers were also wearing pressure suits, as is standard procedure on Soyuz landings.

"Since the crew was suited, the depressurization presented no issue for the crew," Stafford said, adding that they knew about the issue from sensors in the spacecraft.

At a June meeting of Stafford's committee with its Russian equivalent, Stafford said that Russian officials believed that the way the parachute was folded inside the Soyuz may have caused the buckle to hit the capsule during deployment, with the angle of the spacecraft during reentry also possibly playing a role.

Stafford said there was no record of a similar event taking place in previous Soyuz landings. "Work has been done to review the anomaly, and mitigation steps were implemented to ensure it will not happen in the future," he said.