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Tensions are rising between the U.S. and Russia over the Ukraine crisis. So what happens if
Russia decides it's not in it's best interest to bring American ISS astronauts home?
Welcome to DNews everyone, I'm Trace and this is your Weekly Space Update. First, I want
to say, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is something NASA is monitoring and our contacts
there say that the landing on March 10 and the launch on March 25 are both on schedule.
Since the NASA space shuttle program is over, the US pays Russia to take American astronauts
into space. As of August last year the price was $70 million per seat -- which is a lot.
What if Russia decided to just say "screw this."? How will our space nerds get our astronauts
back to Earth?
On the International Space Station, there are always two Soyuz spacecraft ready to be
used as lifeboats -- but since this is hypothetical, let's say they can't use those. How would
some of the more creative, scientific, minds of our time envision getting an astronaut
from space back to Earth in a.... how shall I... Non-Traditional sense? Lucky for us,
during the early days of the space program, engineers and scientists worked on this exact
problem.
Back in the late-1960s, scientists at General Electric came up with the MOOSE -- Man Out
Of Space Easiest or Manned Orbital Operations Safety Equipment. As reported in a 1966 issue
of Popular Mechanics, the astronaut bails out of the spacecraft and into the MOOSE where
foam fills up what looks like a life-raft and after the heat of reentry, the parachute
opens and a beacon is activated. It was tested by Mercury astronauts, but never used or purchased,
because... well, look at it: It's a foamy raft thing in space.
There were other systems too, like the Paracone or the Cocoon, both designed to be transported
up deflated and then inflated in case of emergency. The Douglas Paracone was a ballistic cone,
basically a pilotable heat shield with a rocket engine for re-entry alignment. It didn't have
a parachute, and would just crush part of it on landing... the '60s were crazy! The
Goodyear Airmat was an inflatable cocoon ball for two space station-based astronauts. The
ball would be the heat shield, but they never quite figured it out.
Rockwell proposed a giant balloon, not unlike the space jump from a couple years ago.The
SAVER would have a small heat shield behind the astronaut and a giant balloon in front.
Once in the atmosphere the balloon would inflate and bam, the slow descent could start. There
were SO MANY designs, escape pods and manned vehicles -- some were ruled out because of
weight limits, others because of cost to develop the technology.
In the end, none of these designs were implemented, or needed. Ejection seats at space shuttle
speeds would tear humans apart -- so astronauts simply accepted the danger as part of the
risk of space travel.
According to my sources at NASA, at the moment, we've got no contingency plan to bring our
astronauts home, because we don't really need one. The space agencies of Russia and the
United States have always worked together outside of their political differences.
Let's hope it all works out, because in the end, space exploration benefits all of mankind.
Nerds don't care. They got science to do!
Are ANY of these enticing to you? Or do you have a better idea? Subscribe, and tell us
about it below and we'll see you next week for more Space Updates.