After 12 days in space, the capsule landed in northern Kazakhstan without incident



Great success!

I want it off my lawn!!

Finder's Keepers MOTHERfarkERS!

While later reports suggest they are ok, some early ones I read suggested they may have been exposed to 10G. I sincerely hope not.

Screw you Russkies! I'm keeping it.

No.

Serious comment:
Shows the strength of the Soyuz design - even system failures or mistakes, 99% of the time you live to tell the tail. Shuttle: you DIAF if somebody sneezes.

Less serious comment:
RIA Novosti reported Saturday the Soyuz-TMA-11 capsule carried U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson, Russian flight engineer Yury Malenchenko and South Korean bioengineer Yi So-yeon.

Waits for women driver jokes . . .

/Spent some time at Звёздный Городо́к (Star City) - did a simulated launch/reentry in the TSU18 centrifuge. Would fly in a TM any day. STS? probably take the chance, but would fear the launch/reentry.

A capsule that missed its mark and did a ballistic re-entry is not all that funny. Especially when you know one of the astronauts, as I do. And yes, I'm pretty sure they experienced 10 G's, which is not life threatening but extremely unpleasant and will knock you unconscious.

methaz: /Spent some time at Звёздный Городо́к (Star City) - did a simulated launch/reentry in the TSU18 centrifuge. Would fly in a TM any day. STS? probably take the chance, but would fear the launch/reentry.

And your really getting a kick out of these replies?

c/tail/tale/
Spell check isn't always your friend.

Help-Im-Sober: And your really getting a kick out of these replies?

Damn. Meant to say that.

Does the Soyuz capsule still have a loaded shotgun on board to use against wolves if the capsule lands in the wilderness? I've always wanted to know what firing a shotgun in space would be like.

You've lost another space capsule?

Outlawtsar: Does the Soyuz capsule still have a loaded shotgun on board to use against wolves if the capsule lands in the wilderness? I've always wanted to know what firing a shotgun in space would be like.

Thrilling!

methaz: Serious comment:
Shows the strength of the Soyuz design - even system failures or mistakes, 99% of the time you live to tell the tail. Shuttle: you DIAF if somebody sneezes.

I agree, but it does seem like this has been happening a lot lately with the Soyuz. I'm wondering if they're having some problems. But agreed, a capsule that can do a ballistic reentry if necessary is inherently a lot safer than something like STS.

2 Women on board? How did they not stop for directions?

Soyuz missions are supposedly much more reliable than ones carried out by the space shuttle. What does everyone think of the Ares program? It looks like we will be depending on the Soyuz while NASA gets their act together.

I think it may already be in the correct hands...

TommyDeuce

2 Women on board? How did they not stop for directions?

I came here to ask if they let So-yeon Yi drive, but methaz's comment ran that off the road.

I woke up to find a space capsule on my lawn,so I'm really getting
a kick out'a these replies.

/Do not play with Happy Fun Capsule
//Do not stare at Happy Fun Capsule

Always wondered why they don't land in the ocean instead of hard ground.

Rock Hudson and Patrick McGoohan were dispatched to retrieve it...

Outlawtsar: Does the Soyuz capsule still have a loaded shotgun on board to use against wolves if the capsule lands in the wilderness? I've always wanted to know what firing a shotgun in space would be like.

Yup. And the nancy-boys at NASA got their panties in a wad over it after Fark's Favorite Astronut did her thing. Asked RosKosmos to take it out or lock it up. RK basically said WTF? Wouldn't it make more sense to not launch crazy cosmonauts? NASA: we don't have that option.

Outlawtsar: I've always wanted to know what firing a shotgun in space would be like

No explosion or heat to speak of, because of the rapid dissipation of gasses in a vacuum, but you do end up floating and (probably) spinning backwards in a nicely balanced Newtonian reaction.

And if you could also return the passengers...

methaz: RK basically said WTF? Wouldn't it make more sense to not launch crazy cosmonauts? NASA: we don't have that option.

Well, Cape Canaveral IS located in Florida.

Tsar_Bomba1

Always wondered why they don't land in the ocean instead of hard ground.

If only Gus Grissom were around to have a word with you.

Also, remember that the Soviet space program was a Cold War baby and having landings inside Mother Russia was preferable to further out in the world where We Could See What They Did There.

Animatronik: A capsule that missed its mark and did a ballistic re-entry is not all that funny. Especially when you know one of the astronauts, as I do. And yes, I'm pretty sure they experienced 10 G's, which is not life threatening but extremely unpleasant and will knock you unconscious.

so you're getting a kick out of these replies?

Did anyone else think the caption for the pic on the side was a little off?

/Motherfarkin' Soyuz rocket.
//AAAAAH MOTHERLAND!
///isn't Russian

Tsar_Bomba1: Always wondered why they don't land in the ocean instead of hard ground.

Ground is safer. No, really. If the flotation system fails, you sink. It's also cheaper. NASA had to task entire ships to the recovery job. And then what if you miss your mark (like these guys did)? It takes way longer for a ship to travel a couple hundred miles to the actual landing site than for a helicopter to do so.

If something goes wrong and you hit the surface at 300, 400 mph... it doesn't matter if its water or concrete. You are dead.

The upcoming ares system will use ground-landing capsules and rightly so.

SoyChemist: Soyuz missions are supposedly much more reliable than ones carried out by the space shuttle. What does everyone think of the Ares program? It looks like we will be depending on the Soyuz while NASA gets their act together.

It's not really so much that they don't "have their act together" so much as it's that they aren't being given the funding to build and test Ares at the same time as they are running the shuttle program. So, as a result, they won't have Ares ready to go for carrying people until years after the shuttle retires. The problem is mainly political will.

BravadoGT: In unrelated news, Kazakh God sends unexpected gift to country, as thousands of worshippers begin gather around the metallic talisman...

Dam them Gods - they must be crazy...

Dood your truck is in a tree, time to pack a bowl.

Animatronik: A capsule that missed its mark and did a ballistic re-entry is not all that funny. Especially when you know one of the astronauts, as I do. And yes, I'm pretty sure they experienced 10 G's, which is not life threatening but extremely unpleasant and will knock you unconscious.

I know one too (overlapped in grad school with Whitson). Not much to TFA, but I'm getting the impression that everyone aboard is OK (I so hope that is the case!).

The chron has more info:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5714311.html (new window)

jgm1976: You've lost another space capsule?

You did not disappoint me!

FTFA: the 49th woman to reach space.

So ... we're not counting Christa McAuliffe here?

/sorry
//had to
///red wine

Tsar_Bomba1: Always wondered why they don't land in the ocean instead of hard ground.

it's traditional for russian caps to land in russian territory.

the ocean is international and is a security violation in the eyes of the old guard.

plus they want it to land near baikonur so they can take it back to base

Don't fall for it Marth and Jonathan!

Pretty cute, in a Boomer sort of way

Link (new window)

Moscow, Moscow,
Russia is a lovely land,
Capsules don't come down where planned,
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, hey!

Outlawtsar: Does the Soyuz capsule still have a loaded shotgun on board to use against wolves if the capsule lands in the wilderness? I've always wanted to know what firing a shotgun in space would be like.

It would be great for hunting wabbits, because it would be very very quiet..

Let's hope their nukes have the same programmers.

scamp-dun-emer

So ... we're not counting Christa McAuliffe here?

Not even with an asterisk.

Salvage rights, bizniotches!

They have been making noises lately about deleting land landing capability from Orion/Ares for weight reasons. That would suck.

I wonder if we had a similar strategy for landing spacecraft if it could be 300 miles off course without coming close to hitting some populated area.