8.07.2019

A crew of Russia's Federatsiya (Federation) spacecraft could be killed in case of a carrier's failure and subsequent splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, as Russia doesn't have high-speed rescue vessels in that region, Igor Verkhovsky, the senior official at Russia's Energia Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC) said on Saturday.

"There is now a huge problem in case of an emergency situation while launching the manned Federatsiya spacecraft from the Vostochny cosmodrome. We will enter the Pacific Ocean waters, where we do not have any high-speed vessels belonging to the Navy or civil fleet.

"We will lose several days and could lose a crew before emergency rescue forces arrive at a place where an emergency landing is made," Verkhovsky said, addressing the eighth International Youth Industrial Forum "Engineers of the Future" in the Orenburg region.

Verkhovsky also stressed that there was a need to replace Federtsiya's parachute landing technology with another one, adding that initially the spacecraft was planned to have a reactive landing technology, but this was complicated by the fact that there are not enough suitable landing sites in Russia.

The new manned Federatsiya spacecraft was designed by Energia to deliver people and cargo to low Earth orbit, as well as the Moon. Its crew will comprise up to four people. The ship will be able to stay up to 30 days in an automated flight mode, and up to a year as part of a space station system. The launch of the spacecraft is planned for 2022.

Quelle: SD