• Hi Guest!

    The costs of running this forum are covered by Sea Lion Press. If you'd like to help support the company and the forum, visit patreon.com/sealionpress

That was too close... Five Manned Spaceflight disasters that never were

I didn't have space to go into just how bad a day Alexei Leonov had on Voskhod 2.

After somehow managing to squeeze back in, you'd have thought the rest would be easy.

However... the automatic re-entry system failed and they overshot their window. But with manual corrections, they should be okay.
Then, the service module on the Voskhod failed to separate, with a cable staying connected. So the two components, attached through re-entry, started to gyrate and spin wildly as they burned through the atmosphere.

Fortunately the cable burned through before catastrophic damage could be done to the part the cosmonauts were in - but it did mean they were way off target.

They landed a couple of thousand kilometers beyond their target point, in deep Siberia. In March.
In trackless forest, with several feet of snow, the rescue crew couldn't initially find them. When they did, they couldn't land.

The hatch was jammed, but they finally got it open - although it no longer would close properly. In bitter cold, with temperatures dropping and unable to close the hatch, they built a fire.

Which was great, but it attracted wolves...

Yeah, a pretty tough day at the office all round.
 
AndyC said:
I didn't have space to go into just how bad a day Alexei Leonov had on Voskhod 2.

After somehow managing to squeeze back in, you'd have thought the rest would be easy.

However... the automatic re-entry system failed and they overshot their window. But with manual corrections, they should be okay.
Then, the service module on the Voskhod failed to separate, with a cable staying connected. So the two components, attached through re-entry, started to gyrate and spin wildly as they burned through the atmosphere.

Fortunately the cable burned through before catastrophic damage could be done to the part the cosmonauts were in - but it did mean they were way off target.

They landed a couple of thousand kilometers beyond their target point, in deep Siberia. In March.
In trackless forest, with several feet of snow, the rescue crew couldn't initially find them. When they did, they couldn't land.

The hatch was jammed, but they finally got it open - although it no longer would close properly. In bitter cold, with temperatures dropping and unable to close the hatch, they built a fire.

Which was great, but it attracted wolves...

Yeah, a pretty tough day at the office all round.
Click to expand...

This is the space disaster film I want to see.
 
Here's the speech Nixon had planned in case the Apollo 11 mission failed:

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations.

In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.

Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top