Food & Drink1 min ago
Soyuz from ISS
Why has the Soyuz tma-11 just taken a matter of hours to come back from the space station this morning compared with the shuttles that takes up to 2 days. Thanks
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It physically only takes a matter of hours (weather permitting) for each type of craft to undock, deorbit, reenter and land however the Shuttle procedure includes a day or so for the crew to test their systems and check out any damage that invariably occured during the mission.
Soyuz-TMA just makes a dash for home. Perhaps this may account for the last 2 missions (10 and 11) encountering problems after deorbit which resulted in each mission transitioning to ballistic reentry.
Soyuz-TMA just makes a dash for home. Perhaps this may account for the last 2 missions (10 and 11) encountering problems after deorbit which resulted in each mission transitioning to ballistic reentry.
Thank you very much for your reply so this means that the soyuz does not orbit round the earth like the shuttle on it's way down or I am making any sense what I am trying to get at is does it come straight down without any orbiting first. I have watched most of the shuttle landings and take off on the nasa here on pc.I
Hi wendilla
A spacecraft in low-Earth orbit is travelling at a speed of 17600 MPH and takes 90 minutes to complete one orbit of the Earth. To achieve re-entry with the minimum expenditure of fuel, the craft will fire its rocket engines against the direction of travel and slow down to a speed of approx 17000 MPH. This will result in it entering an elliptical orbit, losing height and striking the upper atmosphere on the opposite side of the Earth.
Due the atmospheric drag, the ISS loses a few kilometres of height every month and has to have periodic re-boosts from an attached rocket.
A spacecraft in low-Earth orbit is travelling at a speed of 17600 MPH and takes 90 minutes to complete one orbit of the Earth. To achieve re-entry with the minimum expenditure of fuel, the craft will fire its rocket engines against the direction of travel and slow down to a speed of approx 17000 MPH. This will result in it entering an elliptical orbit, losing height and striking the upper atmosphere on the opposite side of the Earth.
Due the atmospheric drag, the ISS loses a few kilometres of height every month and has to have periodic re-boosts from an attached rocket.
The Soyuz is a small capsule which acts as a taxi service for the return flight - it's only function is to return to Earth.
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/soyuz.html
The Shuttle is more like a bus/goods vehicle/mobile laboratory. After undocking the crew may carry out external work or experiments, check for and carry out repairs and then ensure any payload in the cargo bay is properly stowed before the return flight commences.
http://www.russianspaceweb.com/soyuz.html
The Shuttle is more like a bus/goods vehicle/mobile laboratory. After undocking the crew may carry out external work or experiments, check for and carry out repairs and then ensure any payload in the cargo bay is properly stowed before the return flight commences.
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