The Russian Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft, which landed hundreds of miles off-target during its return to Earth on the weekend, exposed its crew to the risk of serious danger suggest Russian space officials.
Russian space officials have hinted that the descent to Earth of the Soyuz TMA spacecraft on the weekend may well have put the lives of its crew in danger. Photo: Soyuz patch. Credit: Russian Federal Space Agency
The Russian Interfax News Agency reported Tuesday that an apparent malfunction in the jettisoning of the propulsion module during its descent to Earth had threatened the lives of the three astronauts on board; Commander Peggy Whitson, cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko of the 16th International Space Station crew, and South Korean first-time astronaut So-yeon Yi.
A space official described the situation to Interfax as: "The fact that the entire crew ended up whole and undamaged is a great success. Everything could have turned out much worse," said the unnamed official who the news agency describe as being associated with the investigation of the improper landing.
"You could say the situation was on a razor's edge," said the official.
The spacecraft, returning from the International Space Station, landed in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan some 230 miles away from its original target.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, South Korean bio engineer Yi described her fright during the spaceship's steep descent.
"During descent I saw some kind of fire outside as we were going through the atmosphere," said Yi So-yeon, a 29-year-old bio engineer. "At first I was really scared because it looked really, really hot and I thought we could burn."
However she said she then noticed the temperature hadn't risen inside the Soyuz capsule. "I looked at the others and I pretended to be OK," Yi said.
Russian space officials are conducting an inquiry into the incident however initial observations seem to be that the craft made a "ballistic" descent, a descent faster than usual, for undisclosed reasons.
"[Russian space officials] are concerned about the event, but the relative danger to the crew, we've had no discussion on that at all," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's space operations chief, told reporters in a teleconference, adding that he had not heard of any claims from Russian officials that the crew's lives were in danger. "They've not conveyed to us or conveyed to me any concerns at this point."
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