A Description of the Soyuz Spacecraft

With the retiring of the Space Shuttle fleet later this year, ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station will fall completely on the shoulders of the Russians.  With that in mind, it is comforting to know that the Russians will, as they have in the past, accomplish this goal by relying on their stalwart workhorse, the Soyuz spacecraft.

Soyuz TMA

Originally designed in 1963, the Soyuz has gone through several major transformations to reach the now state-of-the-art model, the Soyuz TMA-M.  With the ability to transport three astronauts or cosmonauts in one trip, the ISS has already relied on the Soyuz for years as both a crew transport, and, if necessary, an emergency escape boat.

The 24 foot long Soyuz craft is split into three sections.  In the rear of the craft is the service module, which houses various sensing instruments, and is where the main engines and large exterior solar panels are located.  The middle section is the re-entry capsule.  This is where the cosmonauts sit during launch and descent, and when controlling the craft.  It is also the only module that returns to Earth (via parachute) after the mission is complete.  The forward most section of the craft is the habitation section.  This is where crucial life support systems are housed.  This is also where the exterior docking hardware is located.  It is this section of the Soyuz that physically attaches to the ISS, allowing for transfer of people from the craft to the station.

Currently, every Soyuz is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in the central Asian country of Kazakhstan.  This has been the main launch site of all Russian (and previously Soviet) manned space missions.  A plan is in place, however, to launch several future Soyuz missions from the European Space Agency’s launch site in French Guiana.

While the Space Shuttles will certainly be missed for their massive cargo capabilities and utter awesomeness (it’s a freaking space shuttle), the Soyuz spacecraft will certainly continue to be a great asset in humanity’s continued efforts at a permanent presence in space.

Read more here, here, and here.

NASA's New Vehicle

Last week, NASA unveiled its new Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV).  A redesign of the Orion capsule (which was originally planned to take astronauts to the Moon), the MPCV is slated to ferry up to four astronauts on longer missions to near-Earth asteroids and eventually Mars.  While many details, such as what type of habitation module would accompany these flights and on what rocket it will launch, have yet to be determined, this is certainly a step in the right direction for NASA.

Since Obama's scrapping of the Constellation Program, which aimed to return humans to the Moon in the next decade, NASA has struggled to define its manned exploration goals to the public.  The announcement of the MPCV finally puts a face on their new mission to send humans further into interplanetary space.  By next year, China and Russia will be the only two nations capable of putting humans into orbit, and it's important that NASA at least appear to have a concrete plan for the future of our manned space program.

Using the Orion capsule as the template for the MPCV is a smart move.  Not only is it cheaper and faster to re-tool a vehicle that has already been designed, but terminating the contract with Orion's designer, Lockheed Martin, certainly would have meant layoffs, which wouldn't be attractive in anyone's eyes.  And like Orion, the MPCV will retain the ability to dock with the International Space Station, should the need arise.

While the road ahead for the MPCV still has many uncertainties, as even a potential launch date hasn't been set, this is a good step for NASA and for manned space exploration.

Read more here. And here.

Chinese journalists banned from shuttle launch.

Here's a story that went completely under my radar.  The May 16th launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor was open to journalists of all nations...except for those from China.  Chinese journalists who tried to cover the launch weren't allowed in the Kennedy Space Center, and were barred from NASA's press conferences.  Why the hostility?  Language was slipped into last month's 2011 federal spending bill that banned NASA from hosting any Chinese official or collaborating in any way with a Chinese government entity.  Since these journalists work for Xinhua, the Chinese state-run media, that put them on the no-go list.

What a travesty.  I understand that the congressman responsible for this, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), is concerned about Chinese human rights violations.  However, limiting NASA's ability to collaborate with international space partners is clearly not the answer.  Keeping Chinese journalists from filming America's shuttle launches isn't going to free political prisoners, or bring sweeping democratic reforms.  At best, all this will do is hamper our efforts to bring China into the fold of space faring nations, slowing humanity's inevitable ascent into the Cosmos.  At worst, this will drive the Chinese space program further to the fringes, giving them a pretext to militarize space, and isolating them from the free world.

This is, unfortunately, a symptom of a larger problem.  The greater autonomy private industry has with regards to space exploration, the tighter congress's grip on NASA seems to become.  Recently, we've seen congress micromanage NASA's budget to a ridiculous level, dictate specific rocket designs, and now, ban NASA's scientists from collaborating with their colleagues in China.

Of course, the answer isn't limiting private industry's role in space.  The government should encourage private firms to get into space exploration in every way possible.  However, NASA's role cannot be downplayed or ignored.  And without a clear, specific vision for space, it seems the government has no issue with leaving NASA's fate up to a few malcontents in congress.  As long as we allow these petty political moves to get in the way of real science, shams like the banning of journalists will continue, unabated.

-DJP