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Soyuz capsule standing by for emergencies
In this story: August 18, 1997
Web posted at: 7:27 p.m. EDT (2327 GMT)(CNN) -- The scare aboard Mir Monday, during which the main computer shut down and sent the space station drifting out of control, raised questions once again about what the crew would do in an emergency.
Officials say that while the incident was serious, there was no danger to the crew. Steering rockets were fired to stabilize the station, and the crew will replace a panel to repair the computer.
But in a genuine emergency, there is a three-person Soyuz space capsule docked at the station that can be used for a return trip to Earth. It is a rule aboard Mir that no one is to be left alone without an emergency escape vehicle.
So it was that when the crew moved the capsule Friday to make room for an incoming cargo vessel, all three crewman had to put on bulky spacesuits and squeeze into the capsule for what amounts to moving the car from the driveway into the garage.
Moving just a few feet a second, the Soyuz took 45 minutes to creep from one side of Mir to the other. Along the way, astronaut Michael Foale videotaped the damaged hull on the Spektr module.
No need to send a shuttle
Questions about vacating the space station in an emergency came up in late June when an unmanned cargo vessel hit Spektr during docking, damaging its hull and forcing the crew to seal off the module to stop a leakage of air pressure. It was the most serious accident in Mir's 11 years in orbit.
The Mir sometimes seems to be staggering from one misadventure to another, raising concerns about the safety of the crew.
But officials in Russia and the United States are confident there is no danger to them and no need to send a U.S. space shuttle to the rescue.
"There is no need for the shuttle, as the Soyuz can be used if necessary," NASA spokesman Joel Wells said in June.
For a quick getaway, the three crew members would put on space suits, crawl through a hatch and crowd into the relatively small Soyuz.
Soyuz consists of three modules and, according to NASA, after Soyuz leaves Mir for Earth, the orbital and the instrument modules separate from the descent module and are destroyed.
The descent module shoots through the atmosphere and parachutes to Earth with enough food and gear for crew members to survive until they are found.
Capsules replaced every 6 months
Since Soyuz ferries crew members back and forth to Mir from Earth, the Soyuz vehicle is replaced with a newer version every six months or so, as replacement crews are brought in.
Jerry Linenger, the U.S. astronaut whose stay aboard Mir ended in May, described climbing into the Soyuz as "very difficult."
He also said a German cosmonaut told him, "It's rather cold. It's not real comfortable."
Linenger and his Russian crew mates had to prepare to abandon ship twice during his four-month stay on the station.
His crew first considered an evacuation during a serious fire in February. They were again ready to leave in March when an off-course Progress craft was on a collision course with Mir. The cargo carrier veered off at the last minute.
Correspondent Ann Kellan contributed to this report.
- Message Board: Mir collision
- CNN - In Depth - Space
- Transcript: Story Musgrave Discusses the Mir Space Station Collision - June 25, 1997
Related stories:
- Mir at half power after collision - June 25, 1997
- Mir's woes raise doubts about U.S.-Russian cooperation - June 25, 1997
- Shuttle Atlantis makes repair call to Mir - May 16, 1997
- NASA: Russia will come through with key part of space station - May 15, 1997
- Atlantis to embark before dawn on mission to Mir - May 14, 1997
- NASA to put another U.S.astronaut aboard troubled Mir - May 2, 1997
Related sites:
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- NASA Shuttle-Mir Web - information about the Mirr Space station is provided by NASA
- NASA Shuttle-Mir Web: Spektr - section of the space station that was hit
- MIR Space Station - Radio Transmit Info - information about how to transmit and receive communications with MIR through amateur radio.
- ISS Phase I - Space Station Mir - contains graphics and specifications of the diferent areas of MIR
- Russian Space Agency - homepage of the Russian Space Agency through the NASA site
- Pictures and Movies - contains pictures of MIR and MIR missions as released by the Russian Space Agency.
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