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Russians practise space landing rescue operation on Black Sea

Posted on: Sunday, 5 October 2003, 06:00 CDT

Excerpt from report by Russian Channel One TV on 5 October

[Correspondent] You are looking at footage of real events [Caption: central Kazakhstan 5 May 2003]. The last seconds of the flight of the space capsule Soyuz TMA-1, which deviated from its projected landing area by nearly 500 km. Later it emerged that the guidance system had not worked properly. Risking their lives by pushing their hardware to the limits, subunits of the special military rescue service comb a huge area. The capsule is found quite quickly, despite the difficulty, and the cosmonauts are rescued and evacuated.

From the beginning of the era of space exploration it is not only the trajectory of the launch into orbit that has had to be carefully calculated. The point of return of cosmonauts must also be precisely worked out. Landing is a very tricky process, so in 1960 a special service was set up for the search and rescue of space hardware. It includes the best parachutists and doctors from the medical units of the Airborne Troops, as well pilots capable of flying planes and helicopters in any weather conditions. Special vehicles have also been built for the evacuation of spacecraft. They are staffed by officers of special subunits.

Anything can happen during a landing. The most difficult situation is the emergency descent, when something goes wrong on a spacecraft. In these circumstances, there is hardly any time to locate the crew in the capsule.

In an extreme situation, the so-called "hard" landing routine comes into play. The capsule is separated from the spacecraft and descends to the earth in just 90 minutes.

On the International Space Station, a disaster occurs. There is a fire in the cargo section. The crew leaves the space station immediately.

This scenario was displayed on the control panel of the Russian state aerospace search and rescue service, and unique military rescue exercises started on the shore of the waters around the town of Gelendzhik [on the Black Sea].

This area was not chosen at random for the exercises.

[Vladimir Popov, head of the Russian state aerospace search and rescue service] For the first three orbits we aim to make the landing at the exercise area in Kazakhstan. These points have been carefully worked out, and we have made full provision for them. The other points are here on the coast of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea, which is our emergency zone.

[Correspondent] The equipment and techniques used in the search for a space capsule after a "hard" landing are as follows. All the rescue subunits are placed on No 1 combat readiness. Search and rescue aircraft with a paratrooper go into the air above the expected landing area. The navy also joins in the operation.

If a strong wind does not allow the paratrooper to jump, then an aircraft specially adapted for this type of operation is deployed. An inflatable craft gets as close as possible to the capsule and the crew are taken on board.

The final stage in the operation is the recovery of the capsule itself. This work is performed by the crew of a wheeled all-terrain amphibious vehicle. The scorched capsule is taken to the shore then lifted out of the water with a crane. This is the first time that the rescue vehicles have operated in marine conditions. [Passage omitted]

At the end of the exercises, everyone has been saved, and the capsule has been successfully raised from the water. [Passage omitted]

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