Russia and the ISS

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Discussion

Eric Mc

Original Poster:

122,864 posts

272 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
With East-West relations at their lowest state since the Cold War, where does that leave the US agreement for their astronauts to be ferried to and from the ISS on Soyuz spacecraft?

jmorgan

36,010 posts

291 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
Putin seems to have a lot of aces up his sleeve now.

The folly of the shuttle.

Eric Mc

Original Poster:

122,864 posts

272 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
Yes - the US is now reaping bad decisions made as far back as 1971.

Bisonhead

1,585 posts

196 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
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I have a feeling that Russia will get away with this scot free. I cant see this getting in the way of the space program, I can imagine the Russians are receiving a pretty penny from the Americans by letting them use their Boran's.

Will be interesting to see how this pans out though. There isnt the instant knee-jerk reaction to send troops in, obviously difficult given its the Ruskies but I really cant see any other country being militarily involved.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

291 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
Maybe the US will say not playing any more and pull out on principle?

Eric Mc

Original Poster:

122,864 posts

272 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
Bisonhead said:
I have a feeling that Russia will get away with this scot free. I cant see this getting in the way of the space program, I can imagine the Russians are receiving a pretty penny from the Americans by letting them use their Boran's.

Will be interesting to see how this pans out though. There isnt the instant knee-jerk reaction to send troops in, obviously difficult given its the Ruskies but I really cant see any other country being militarily involved.
What's a Boran?

At the moment, the only way any humans can get to the ISS is on board a Russian Soyuz. It is the only existing man carrying spacecraft currently available.

Bisonhead

1,585 posts

196 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
What's a Boran?

At the moment, the only way any humans can get to the ISS is on board a Russian Soyuz. It is the only existing man carrying spacecraft currently available.
Meant to be Buran - still wrong though boxedin

Eric Mc

Original Poster:

122,864 posts

272 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
Buran never entered service and only ever made one test flight - 26 years ago.

At the moment there is only one way of getting a human into space - and that is the Soyuz/R7 system which is 100% owned and operated by the Russians.

It will be at least 4 years before any alternative non-Russian system is available.

America is at the mercy of the Russians regarding access to a space station which it mostly paid for.

Bisonhead

1,585 posts

196 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
Buran never entered service and only ever made one test flight - 26 years ago.

At the moment there is only one way of getting a human into space - and that is the Soyuz/R7 system which is 100% owned and operated by the Russians.

It will be at least 4 years before any alternative non-Russian system is available.

America is at the mercy of the Russians regarding access to a space station which it mostly paid for.
Now I know, and knowing is half the battle!

What is in the pipeline for 4 years time?

Eric Mc

Original Poster:

122,864 posts

272 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
That is me being optimistic. It could be closer to ten years.

NASA are ploughing on (slowly) with their Orion spacecraft.

Falcon have already test flown their Dragon capsule which eventually will be man rated - so MAY be flown manned by 2017.

The Dream Chaser mini shuttle is undergoing glide tests although these did not get off to a great start when the undercarriage collapsed on landing after its first glide test back in October.




rhinochopig

17,932 posts

205 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
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Eric Mc said:
That is me being optimistic. It could be closer to ten years.

NASA are ploughing on (slowly) with their Orion spacecraft.

Falcon have already test flown their Dragon capsule which eventually will be man rated - so MAY be flown manned by 2017.

The Dream Chaser mini shuttle is undergoing glide tests although these did not get off to a great start when the undercarriage collapsed on landing after its first glide test back in October.
Isn't the USAF's shuttle thing capable of carrying people?

Eric Mc

Original Poster:

122,864 posts

272 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
Not at the moment.

As far as we know, they have no plan to build a manned version.

The X-37 that is currently being tested is too small to carry a human cargo. It is a proof of concept demonstrator. Any operational derivative will be bigger and is possibly at least ten years from flight - if ever.

ewenm

28,506 posts

252 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
Nothing from the Chinese?

Eric Mc

Original Poster:

122,864 posts

272 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
They are pursuing their own path at the moment. They are not involved in the ISS so there are no reciprocal arrangements for carrying foreign astronauts.

They have even launched their own space station.

Bisonhead

1,585 posts

196 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
Maybe the Indians have something up their sleeve? wink

Eric Mc

Original Poster:

122,864 posts

272 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
Not at the moment.

You must realise how long it takes for a manned spacecraft to be -

specified by the entity who intend to use it

a contract awarded - usually through competitive tender

have it built in boilerplate and test versions

have it tested on the ground and in various aspects of its flight profile, including pad aborts

have it flown in unmanned mode on suborbital and/or orbital test flights

and, eventually, flown on a manned orbital mission

At the minimum it takes ten years.

Even during the heady days of Apollo, when money was no object, it took 9 years from the original concept of the Apollo Command/Service Module (1959) to be specified and for the first one to actually fly a manned mission (Apollo 7).

So far, the Indian space agency has not yet set out what type of manned spacecraft it wants - assuming it does want to proceed in that direction.

Asterix

24,438 posts

235 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
So Richard Branson has a bit of a head start then.

Strap a couple more engines on his jalopy and it's all systems go!

Eric Mc

Original Poster:

122,864 posts

272 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
Asterix said:
So Richard Branson has a bit of a head start then.

Strap a couple more engines on his jalopy and it's all systems go!
Coming back would be a bit of a problem.

davepoth

29,395 posts

206 months

Monday 3rd March 2014
quotequote all
SpaceX can do it - bolt a couple of seats to the floor of the Dragon capsule and it would do the job. It's not been man rated yet though.

http://www.spacex.com/dragon

Asterix

24,438 posts

235 months

Tuesday 4th March 2014
quotequote all
Eric Mc said:
Asterix said:
So Richard Branson has a bit of a head start then.

Strap a couple more engines on his jalopy and it's all systems go!
Coming back would be a bit of a problem.
Pfffffff - minor detail.