back to article Russia delays ISS crew mission over Progress launch safety fears

The current crew on the International Space Station is going to be spending at least another month in space after the Russian space agency Roscosmos decided to keep them up there a while longer, and at least one resident astronaut is over the moon at the prospect. Italy's first woman in space, astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti …

  1. Martin Budden Silver badge
    Go

    Congratulations to Samantha Cristoforetti!

    She'll be wizzing over us for an extra month ;-)

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  2. ilmari

    I admit I haven't followed thus extremely closely, but this is the first mention I've seen of an explosion?

    And, of course, they're not putting cosmonauts in a Progress capsule, but Progress has alot in common with the Soyuz capsule that cosmonauts fly in.

    1. et tu, brute?

      Seeing that a Dragon survives re-entry, maybe they can use it as an unscheduled test to bring the astronauts back?

      1. BristolBachelor Gold badge

        They have no problem with coming back, but there is no point bringing them back now, and having the station only half-staffed. Also the Dragon may survive re-entry, but since it has no life support (or seats) it wouldn't make for a good experience!

        I read that they wanted to swap the next crew launch with the next progress supply mission to have more confidence before putting astronauts on the rocket. When the next crew launch is set up, the retiring crew can come back.

        1. Trigonoceps occipitalis

          "They have no problem with coming back"

          Its the landing that could be the bugger.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Unless it's the only remaining option, I guess nobody would attempt a re-entry in something not man-rated, and missing the required equipment.

    2. BristolBachelor Gold badge

      Current theory is that separation happened early. It seems that it wasn't due to a pyro being fired at the wrong time either. It appears that it was caused by the tanks of the upper stage rupturing.

      1. phuzz Silver badge

        "It appears that it was caused by the tanks of the upper stage rupturing."

        Interesting, where did you hear this?

        1. BristolBachelor Gold badge

          Sorry for the delay. Roscos mos data shows that the oxidiseer tank deprurised, followed by the propellant tank . Also sorry for y h e typing. On a 3 hour journey by truck on unpaved roads :(

        2. MonsieurTM

          See http://www.russianspaceweb.com/progress-m27m.html#official

          IIRC the third stage of the Progress booster-stack is shared with the Soyuz booster-stack. Hence if there was a problem with the Progress one, that might impact the Soyuz one.

        3. MonsieurTM

          For more details see http://www.russianspaceweb.com/mexsat1.html

          Also a comment to the editor: cosmonauts have never, ever travelled aboard Progress re-supply capsules. They travel aboard Soyuz capsules which are an ancestor of modern Progress capsules. The issue relates to the common(ish) third stage of the confusingly-named (for-the-Western-media-name) Soyuz launcher (the Russian name is a part number, a derivative of the old 8K85 IIRC). Therefore the comments regarding the Progress capsule are incorrect. A correction to the article would be appreciated.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Not only the Progress is a modified Sojuz, but the launcher is the same.

      1. MonsieurTM

        To be correct: the modern Soyuz and Progress share a common ancestor, with the modern Soyuz closer to the ancestor than the modern Progress. (Original designs for Progress forked in the early 1970s, if not earlier.)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Russia is crumbling...

    ...financially and technically in great part due to their Imperialism and murder of innocent people.

    1. jonathan1

      Re: Russia is crumbling...

      hmm strong...

      The good thing about the space programme is that it brings folk together even if there are issues on the ground.

      I do like how scientific endeveurs are more often that not multi-cultural - bringing folk together, it gives me hope.

  4. Sporkinum

    Just being pedantic, but she is an Air Force captain. Lower rank than a naval captain, which is what the Star Trek ranks are based on

  5. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
    Headmaster

    Captain?

    I could be wrong here but isn't "captain" in terms of a ships captain a title and the rank is commander?

    So not actually the same "rank", especially as an airforce captain is quite different in terms of rank and authority to a ships captain.

    But it's still a nice on play words :-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Captain?

      Depends on what Navy you talk about. For example in the Italian Navy you have three 'captain' ranks (corvette, frigate, vessel captain, above there are admirals), you can address as 'commander' when in charge of a ship. If I'm not wrong US and Royal Navy use lieutenant commander, commander, captain for the same ranks. Royal Navy IIRC has the commodore rank above captain as well.

      Anyway all those ranks are more or less equivalent to a colonel in other services, where a captain is usually the rank above a lieutenant.

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