http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci-tech/space-station-may-be-abandoned-after-russian-rocket-hitch-20110830-1jk8y.html Space station may be abandoned after Russian rocket hitch Kenneth Chang August 31, 2011 Ground control ... the International Space Station as shot from the Soyuz rocket. Photo: NASA
NEW YORK: Astronauts will abandon the International Space Station, probably in mid-November, if engine problems that doomed a Russian cargo rocket last week are not diagnosed and fixed. Even unoccupied, the space station can be operated by controllers on the ground indefinitely and would not be in immediate danger of falling out of orbit. Three Russian, two American and a Japanese astronaut now live on the space station. ''We're going to do what's the safest for the crew and for the space station, which is a very big investment of our governments,'' said Michael Suffredini, manager of the space station program for NASA, on Monday. ''Our job is, as stewards of the government, to protect that investment, and that's exactly what we're going to do.'' The $US100 billion ($939 billion) station has been continuously occupied for more than a decade. Last Wednesday, an unmanned Russian cargo ship known as the Progress, which was carrying three tonnes of supplies to the space station, crashed in Siberia. Telemetry from the rocket indicated that a drop of fuel pressure led to its computer shutting down the third-stage engine prematurely about 5½ minutes into the flight. The Soyuz rocket that lifts the Progress is similar to the Soyuz rocket that takes astronauts to the station, and officials want to make sure they understand what failed at last week's launch and are confident it will not occur again. Two unmanned launches of Soyuz rockets are likely to be made before the next three crew members head to the space station. That launch had been scheduled for September 21. The loss of the Progress is of little immediate impact. The crew has plenty of supplies. Two Soyuz capsules, each with seats for three passengers, are now docked at the space station. But the capsules are certified to last only 200 days in orbit, because hydrogen peroxide for the spacecraft's thrusters degrades over time. The return of the first capsule has been pushed back a week, to September 15, giving NASA and Russia's space agency more time to study their options. The next opportunity for return would be in late October, beyond the 200-day limit. The Russians could study whether the capsule's condition could allow a longer stay, but Mr Suffredini questioned whether that would be wise. The other three crew members would return in the second Soyuz capsule in mid-November. If the problem with the Soyuz rocket had not been resolved by then, the station would be empty. With the retirement of NASA's space shuttles, the Soyuz rockets will be the only way for people to travel to the space station for several years at least. The Soyuz, dating from the 1960s, has been a reliable workhorse for the Russian space program. The New York Times Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci-tech/space-station-may-be-abandoned-after-russian-rocket-hitch-20110830-1jk8y.html#ixzz1WbaoCAX5 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: prole...@egroups.com Subscribe : proletar-subscr...@egroups.com Unsubscribe : proletar-unsubscr...@egroups.com List owner : proletar-ow...@egroups.com Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: proletar-dig...@yahoogroups.com proletar-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: proletar-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
