Russia grounds Soyuz rockets after space cargo craft crash

Russia grounds Soyuz rockets after space cargo craft crash

www.vancouversun.com

MOSCOW - Russia has grounded its Soyuz rockets after one of the unmanned craft crashed shortly after blast-off while carrying tonnes of cargo for the International Space Station, a space official said Thursday.

“A decision has been taken to halt the launch of Soyuz carrier rockets until the reasons for the accident become clear,” the unnamed Russian official told the Interfax news agency.

Wednesday’s accident has raised concerns over the reserves of the six crew members on board the station.."

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**Searched the Forum, didn't find this posted yet**
So what I am assuming was a technical malfunction brought down the craft, leaving the crew aboard the International Space Station with limited supplies and no refills on the horizon.
Luckily the craft wan unmanned and no one was killed or injured.

My question is: If they are grounding all rockets and they aren't leaving the ISS then where are they getting supplies from?

www.vancouversun.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Seems the Russians have a lot of problems with their space technologies since the last year.

Sounds really strange..!

Thanks for posting this.

Its a ploy from Russia to get the Us to reinstate the space shuttle program.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

What other alternatives do they have ?
Be interesting if there is a need to temporarily evac the space station until a supply route can be established
That would certainly get my conspiracy bells ringing

reply to post by Isolation


Well it is the International space station..perhaps ask China or another country?

It will all boil down to cost anyway. Is it cheaper to bring them home or try sending another cargo ship?

People often forget that the International Space Station is (er) internateional. There's more to it than NASA and the Russians. The European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle has been used to ferry supplies.

I am sure there's spare food to provide for the crew in the event of problems with supply.

Rocket launches fail and it would be wrong to suggest that Russian rockets are more unreliable then US or European rockets. They are all about the same at c. 95% success. Rockets from some of the "emerging" nations are a bit more hit and miss, with Chinese, Indian, Israeli and even Brazilian rockets more likely to go BANG!

Regards

Originally posted by paraphi
People often forget that the International Space Station is (er) internateional. There's more to it than NASA and the Russians. The European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle has been used to ferry supplies.

Quite right, and don't forget about Japan's HTV either (though the next one isn't planned to fly until January, though that's still sooner than the next ATV flight). Unless I'm mistaken, Russia only officially suspended Soyuz, not Progress. Obviously the loss of an unmanned mission isn't nearly as tragic as the loss of a manned one. I'm sure they'll try to get the next Progress up there on time. The question is, at what point does it start to impact the crew size for later expeditions.