14 DAY TRIAL // The next Russian space capsule – that was supposed to head into low-Earth orbit in a couple of weeks – has just been grounded by authorities, after a glitch was discovered in one of its systems.
According to official sources, the delay may extend from the original launch date of March 30 to between April 7 and 10. It all depends on how fast engineers will work to produce and install the needed replacement parts.
Representatives of the Russian Federal Space Agency (RosCosmos) say that the take off date is being moved in order to ensure that all critical systems are running properly. The space capsule is heading to space to replenish the crew of the International Space Station (ISS).
“Taking into account the necessity to run additional analysis of the glitch, Soyuz TMA-21 launch is postponed,” the officials reveal, quoted by Space. There is currently no official launch date set, but it is expected that the delay will not last for more than two weeks.
The glitch was identified in the Kvant-V two-way radio communications system, and does not affect primary systems such as propulsion and life support. “Failure of a condenser is blamed for the glitch in Kvant-V,” engineering teams on site reported.
At this point, the spacecraft is located at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in the steppes of Kazakhstan. This is the facility that RosCosmos uses for all ISS-bound launches, including those of the Soyuz and Progress capsules.
This Soyuz space capsule is scheduled to deliver the astronauts of the Expedition 27 crew aboard the ISS. The current Expedition, 26, will conclude when astronaut Scott J. Kelly (NASA), and cosmonauts Aleksandr Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka (RosCosmos) leave the station.
The three are scheduled to undock from the ISS tomorrow, March 15, aboard the Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft. They will land in Kazakhstan on March 16, concluding nearly 6 months of operations aboard the orbital lab.
They will be replaced by RosCosmos flight engineers Andrei Borisenko and Aleksandr Samokutyayev, alongside NASA astronaut Ron Gara. The other half of the Expedition 27 crew will be made up of Dmitri Kondratyev (RosCosmos), Catherine Coleman (NASA) and Paolo Nespoli (ESA).
The Russian space agency announced some time ago that the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft has been named Yuri Gagarin, in honor of the Soviet astronaut that was the first man to reach Earth's orbit.
The first human spaceflight ever took place on April 12, 1961, and countries around the world will celebrate the event in 2011. This year marks the 50th anniversary of this tremendous achievement.