Tag: Ebola Ended In Uganda January 14 15 2023 And Soyuz New Lifeboat In Space Frank Rubio Dmitri Petelin Sergey Prokopyev ISS Module Springs Coolant Leak Spacewalk Scrubbed December 15 2022

Russia Will Send A Backup “Lifeboat” Soyuz To ISS In February… And The “All Clear” Re Ebola — In Uganda…

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Two separate items, as follow-up, on a cold January Saturday night, by the fire: first, ebola has officially been declared arrested, in Uganda, by WHO.

That is very good news, indeed. [The president of Uganda had jumped the gun, and declared an all clear right before Christmas — to permit more commerce and travel over the long holidays there. But it seems not to have re-ignited the outbreak — for which we are all breathing a sigh of relief.]

Next, as we earlier mentioned might be the case, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has this past week definitively decided not to fly the crew of three home, on the Soyuz module that was observed spraying coolant into space, about 45 days ago. Here’s NASA’s telling of that bit:

…Roscosmos engineers determined the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is not viable for a normal crew return, but is available for crew return in an emergency aboard the space station. The Soyuz MS-22 will be replaced by the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft that will launch to the space station without a crew on Monday, Feb. 20. NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin will return to Earth in the replacement Soyuz after spending several additional months on the station….

Onward, grinning — these nights, as compared to the 70 degree arid sunsets, in the Sonoran desert we recently left… are tougher, with each passing year. But it reminds us we are… alive — that much is certain. Smile.

नमस्ते

If The Soyuz Module — Now Docked At ISS — Is Deemed Not “Return Flight Ready”, Russia Is Quickly Working A Backup Plan, For Cosmonauts’ Safe Return.

~ condor ~ Leave a comment

It is almost as though the Sandra Bullock/George Clooney sci-fi vehicle — “Gravity“ — of a few years back has come to life. Well, almost. The .gif at right is from NASA / ISS higher-res video footage of the event.

It is not yet known whether the current Soyuz module will be deemed safe for a crewed re-entry. But in the event it is deemed “not safe“, Russia is making plans to fast launch another Soyuz, as a “life-raft” of sorts, here on Christmas Eve 2022.

Here are the details, from Space.com’s fine reporting today:

…It will be a while before backup comes for a space station crew currently depending on a leaky Soyuz to get home. February, to be exact.

Should the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft be deemed unsafe after spouting coolant into space Dec. 14, two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut will need to wait until February for a backup Soyuz to arrive at the International Space Station (ISS), a Russian space official said during a press conference Thursday (Dec. 22).

“Our next crew… was scheduled to fly in the middle of March,” said Sergei Krikalev, head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow, during the livestreamed NASA press conference….

If Russia indeed fast-tracks the next Soyuz to the space station, the damaged MS-22 would come back empty. “Roscosmos would plan to return the current Soyuz on orbit and collect the data so they can use that for future evaluations” Montalbano said….

Now you know — be excellent to one another — and we wish you all peace, and prosperity, in the coming New Year. Thinkin’ only good thoughts, of all of you… be wonderful, and be… adventurous! Grin.

नमस्ते