If we ground our fleet what alternate methods will be used to retrieve them?
They still have a Soyuz escape craft.
Do the Russians have a craft that can dock with the ISS?
There is a Russian-built Soyuz capsule docked with the station that the crew could use to get back if they needed. The Russians routinely launch “fresh” capsules; a crew will ride up a Soyuz from Baikonur in the former Soviet republic of Kazakstan in Central Asia, dock the new capsule with the ISS, then return in the old one. (The Soyuzes aren’t reusable; they’re one shot vehicles like our old Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo capsules.)
The ISS is routinely supplied by automated Russian “Progress” rockets. The crew is fine for the moment and the near future. As has been said, they have a Soyuz capsule which serves as a “lifeboat” which they can use to return if neccessary.
there is bound to be a great debate brewing at NASA.
Is it safer to launch the shuttle or use the Soyuz?
Has the Soyuz been used by the Russians from MIR in the past?
Related link:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=578&e=5&cid=578&u=/nm/20030201/ts_nm/shuttle_russia_dc
Sozuz, easy. The Sozuz craft had had thousands of flights, with only 4 fatalities, and the most recent of those were in 1970. At 14 deaths in less than 200 flights, the Shuttle is the least safe manned space system in use today by far.
The Russians have far more experience than we do with operating a manned space station (that is to say, we had virtually none, and they had almost 2 decades) - whereas we were vastly more experienced with shuttle missions and the like.
The ISS was designed to support international docking and flights. I wouldn’t worry about the future of the crew on ISS right now… the shuttle fleet will likely be grounded for a time, but every comment I’ve heard from the government (NASA and otherwise) indicates that they expect the fleet to be back up once they understand what happened.
I’d love to link, but the various NASA pages hosting the ISS info are down.
The folks on the ISS are fine.
They have lots of supplies on board.
There is an effective and time-tested means of resupplying the station with either Russian or US technology.
The Soyuz are still there (as mentioned) and can get everybody home if need be.
If the objective is to save a life (or lives) I see no reason a shuttle launch wouldn’t occur. Last time we had one blow up the program was grounded, yes, but at the time there was no one up there dependent on shuttles to get back home, either. For that matter, they aren’t dependent on them now.
It’s a setback, not a complete show-stopper.
Space travel is dangerous and carries real risks. We’ve known that for 40+ years.
For that matter, airplane travel carries real risks, too - but when they crash we don’t throw up our arms and yell “STOP!”. By studying the crashes we’ve made flying one of the safest forms of transportation in history. Likewise, we’ve learned alot from space disasters. I wouldn’t call space travel safe, but it’s no doubt less risky than it was in 1966.
Nobody wants to see these things happen - yeah, I had that gut-wrenching sick feeling, too, watching the video - but if we’re going to go out into space it will happen from time to time. The trick is to minimize the number of times it happens
Physically, but I’d say their psychology is pretty damaged at the moment.
Broomstick, sadly, there are half-wits out there who will use this as an excuse to call for an end to manned space exploration.
Only too true, Tuckerfan, only too true.
I’d still volunteer to ride the next flight up.
On days like to today I remember the last words of Otto Lillienthal: “Some sacrfices must be made”
jimm - Yes, I’m sure they’re upset. I’m upset and I don’t have near the involvement they do. But there’s no rush to get them down and, frankly, it might be better for them to stay put for a couple weeks until things get sorted out and the folks in ground support return things to more normal. The greatest danger is at launch and re-entry, and they have the means to stay up there for awhile if need be. Better to return a week or a month overdue and return safely than to rush things.
Tucker, I can only hope that some good comes out of this, and at the very least people who were not even aware we still did shuttle launches (I’m sure there are) will have a newfound interest in space. We are at such a crucial moment in the history of space exploration right now - international long term space stations, multiple nations making moon shots, discussion of sending manned missions to Mars, etc - I don’t see it stopping. I don’t think the government does, either.
I fully expect a speech from Bush to echo Reagan.
Would I be safe in thinking they’ve been given disaster contingency training, too, that would prepare them for this kind of tragedy?
Yeah. The Command Module pilot on the Apollo missions was trained to bring his ship back home alone, if the others died on the Moon. It’s not something that the astronauts like to talk about.
Ironicly I came across this link this morning that is boosting (no pun) the next means of space exploration.
I see a major set back for this technology
coming into the mainstream.