Soyuz Landing Troubles

"Long Covered-Up Near-Disaster of Soyuz-5 (1969)
Was Almost Repeated Forty Years Later"
image: courtesy of 'Newton' magazine, Tokyo



"Soyuz spacecraft separates into three parts
only moments before flaming entry into the
atmosphere -- this is how it's supposed to look."
Credit: Painting of nominal separation courtesy of
Andrey Sokolov; schematic of three modules, Russian Space Agency.


"But in April 2008 the crew cabin and
its equipment section hung up for several critical
minutes and hit the atmosphere in an improper
orientation, without the critical heat shield facing forward."
artwork of hung-up modules, NASA

04/27/2008 - NASA SpaceFlight.com: The Real Soyuz Problem - Looking Past the Smoke and Flames

10/21/2008 - MSNBC.com: New Soyuz Landing Should Go Smoothly

June 26 - MSNBC.com: Spacewalk's Explosive Twist

May 12 Washington Post: “Perilous Landings by Soyuz Worry NASA”

May 6 IEEE Spectrum On-Line: Reconstructuring A Space Near-Miss

April 21 - MSNBC: "Space crew’s hard landing raises hard questions"

April 27: "The Real Soyuz Problem - Looking Past the Smoke and Flames"

Precedent:

• Soyuz 'Hard Landing' (May 2003), in IEEE Spectrum On-Line
• Coverup of Soyuz TMA-10 Separation Problem
• Soyuz-5, Nose-First Into the Flames (1969)
  New Developments

Oberg reconstruction of near-disaster


Opposite flaw - unplanned module separation:

• Soyuz TM-5 Space Stranding Near Miss (September 5, 1988)

Context:

• Oberg's 1997 study of "Soyuz Landing Safety"
  project description
• full report

Background: NASA internal report on recent landing
coming soon...