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Nation & World | Russia's space-station supply rocket crash presents a problem | Seattle Times Newspaper
A Russian rocket carrying three tons of food, fuel and other supplies for the international space station fell back to Earth soon after launching Wednesday.
It crashed in Siberia, and the thunderous impact rattled windows for 60 miles, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported, adding that there were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths.
The unmanned spacecraft, called Progress, lifted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on top of a Soyuz rocket. A little more than five minutes later, the rocket's third-stage engine shut down sooner than it should have, before the spacecraft had enough velocity to reach orbit.
The rocket's failure will have little immediate impact for the six crew members at the space station. It is well stocked with supplies taken there in July by the last shuttle flight.
If a quick diagnosis and fix for the problem eludes Russian engineers, however, NASA and the other agencies collaborating on the space station could face difficult choices.
While the station has adequate supplies, the Soyuz rocket that failed is similar to the ones used to carry crew members into orbit. With the retirement of the shuttles, the Soyuz rocket is the only transportation available at present.
"We've always known this was a risk," said Michael Suffredini, the manager of the space station for NASA.
The next set of three crew members is scheduled to launch to the space station in September, and another three are to go up in December.
Further, the Soyuz capsules in which the crew members ride also serve as lifeboats in case of an emergency, and the capsules are allowed to stay at the station for up to 210 days.
It means that three crew members will probably have to return to Earth in one of the Soyuz capsules docked at the station by October at the latest. Without replacements, that would leave only three people to operate the station, greatly reducing the time they can devote to running experiments.
If the problem drags on to the end of the year, the other three would also have to return to Earth, leaving the space station unoccupied.
Suffredini said the station can be operated from the ground and stay in orbit indefinitely as long as there are no major failures and other cargo ships continue to fly a Japanese one and a European one are scheduled to be launched next spring.
The problem with the Russian spacecraft could also play into the debate in Washington over NASA's future. The space agency is counting on two commercial companies, Space Exploration Technologies of Hawthorne, Calif., and the Orbital Sciences Corporation of Vienna, Va., to begin cargo flights to the station, and the agency is looking to rely on companies to carry astronauts to orbit, a program called commercial crew.
Congress so far has placed more priority on financing a heavy-lift rocket for taking astronauts beyond low-earth orbit and has cut money for the commercial initiatives.
A Russian rocket carrying three tons of food, fuel and other supplies for the international space station fell back to Earth soon after launching Wednesday.
It crashed in Siberia, and the thunderous impact rattled windows for 60 miles, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported, adding that there were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths.
The unmanned spacecraft, called Progress, lifted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan on top of a Soyuz rocket. A little more than five minutes later, the rocket's third-stage engine shut down sooner than it should have, before the spacecraft had enough velocity to reach orbit.
The rocket's failure will have little immediate impact for the six crew members at the space station. It is well stocked with supplies taken there in July by the last shuttle flight.
If a quick diagnosis and fix for the problem eludes Russian engineers, however, NASA and the other agencies collaborating on the space station could face difficult choices.
While the station has adequate supplies, the Soyuz rocket that failed is similar to the ones used to carry crew members into orbit. With the retirement of the shuttles, the Soyuz rocket is the only transportation available at present.
"We've always known this was a risk," said Michael Suffredini, the manager of the space station for NASA.
The next set of three crew members is scheduled to launch to the space station in September, and another three are to go up in December.
Further, the Soyuz capsules in which the crew members ride also serve as lifeboats in case of an emergency, and the capsules are allowed to stay at the station for up to 210 days.
It means that three crew members will probably have to return to Earth in one of the Soyuz capsules docked at the station by October at the latest. Without replacements, that would leave only three people to operate the station, greatly reducing the time they can devote to running experiments.
If the problem drags on to the end of the year, the other three would also have to return to Earth, leaving the space station unoccupied.
Suffredini said the station can be operated from the ground and stay in orbit indefinitely as long as there are no major failures and other cargo ships continue to fly a Japanese one and a European one are scheduled to be launched next spring.
The problem with the Russian spacecraft could also play into the debate in Washington over NASA's future. The space agency is counting on two commercial companies, Space Exploration Technologies of Hawthorne, Calif., and the Orbital Sciences Corporation of Vienna, Va., to begin cargo flights to the station, and the agency is looking to rely on companies to carry astronauts to orbit, a program called commercial crew.
Congress so far has placed more priority on financing a heavy-lift rocket for taking astronauts beyond low-earth orbit and has cut money for the commercial initiatives.
