Question Soyuz Question

Mantis

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I was just wondering what those panels attached to the fairing of the manned Soyuz rockets are. There appears to be four of them and they are square shaped. I did notice that the unmanned Soyuz launchers lack these panels. My guess is that they have something to do with the launch gantry - maybe they extend as platforms for people to stand on while boarding/working on the spacecraft. Can anyone clarify that for me?
 

SiberianTiger

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They are grid steering surfaces for emergency escape tower operation. When the escape is initiated, they unfold to sides to provide stabilization and control for the BO/SA stack in its short flight. Also, the ship's shroud is disjoined in the middle, right under attachment points of these rudders.

Once the tower's burn is over, the SA (Descent module) is ejected down from the fairing for subsequent descent on parachute.
 

Mantis

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Thanks SiberianTiger and Urwumpe! That was something that I had wondered about for a while.:thumbup:

The account of them actually using the launch escape system in a pad abort is interesting. It's the first time that I've ever heard of such a system being used in a real emergency.
 
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Moach

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it sure sounds like quite a wild ride :headbang:
 

N_Molson

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Try the Soyuz that comes with "Thorton ISS v3" and "R7 project" + "early launchers" addon. You can set a reliability factor for the rocket. If something fails, you'll hear an alarm and see the escape system in action (I recommend 0.1x time accel, it goes VERY fast from there (the famous 22G burst) ;)).
 

Urwumpe

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SiberianTiger

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Wow. They really did only just get out of there in time. That was some amazing footage.

There was a guitar petry song about that accident, written by a guy who served as an officer at Baikonur. I translated it and posted lyrics to this forum a while ago.

---------- Post added at 09:39 ---------- Previous post was at 09:38 ----------

Anyone take a gander at what casued the failure in the video? Thanks for the info all!

A faulty peroxide valve, causing peroxide to spill and catch on fire.
 

Urwumpe

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The crew was also swearing because this was the second abort to reach orbit for Titov. ;)

A faulty peroxide valve, causing peroxide to spill and catch on fire.

More specific, a valve in one of the boosters.

The fire destroyed the abort lines which is why it took so long until the abort was initiated. The crew has no means to initiate a pad abort. The abort was triggered by radio backup, which required both launch director Shumilin and technical leader Soldatenkov to phone the Saturn communication building a few km away from the launch complex, and tell them there the right code word for the abort (in this case, it was "Dnestr") so two people in two different rooms (Mochalov and Shevchenko) press the abort button within 5 seconds of each other.

Luckily, they had not been required to fill out some forms for the abort first.
 

tblaxland

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YouTube- Soyuz Launch Escape Tower System
Clearly the guys at 0:37 had no idea what was going on, there was not even a flinch.

The crew has no means to initiate a pad abort.
Suzy's quote of Zimmerman:
Feeling strange vibrations and seeing black smoke and yellow flames outside their window, Titov and Strekalov tried to fire the launch-escape system manually, only to get no response.
:shrug:

As a matter of interest, is manual crew abort initiation now available?

Luckily, they had not been required to fill out some forms for the abort first.
:rofl:
 

Urwumpe

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Suzy's quote of Zimmerman::shrug:

As a matter of interest, is manual crew abort initiation now available?

I don't know which spacecraft Zimmerman saw, but a Soyuz has no windows before the fairing separates. And even then just in the OM until shortly before landing for Soyuz TM and later, while for the Soyuz T, you had two side windows from fairing separation to reentry, which then became useless by heat shield residuals.

All information the cosmonauts got was from launch control over radio.

There was actually a small initial explosion 1 second before the abort was triggered and the rocket already leaning over, while it took 11.2 seconds from detection of the fire to abort.

Titov recalled that he noticed strange vibrations seconds before the abort, which was the only weak indication inside the capsule of an anomaly with the launch vehicle.
 

N_Molson

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I especially like the last sequence of the video, when you saw an officer from behind and the escape launch in the background.

He reminds me Darth Vader in Star Wars (Empires Strikes back), when they fail to capture the Millenium Falcon. :lol:
 
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