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U.S.-Russian Crew Has Tricky Landing at Station

Posted on: Tuesday, 19 October 2004, 12:00 CDT

KOROLYOV, Russia -- The Soyuz spacecraft closed in on the international space station at dangerously high speed Saturday, forcing the U.S.-Russian crew to put on the brakes, abandon autopilot and manually dock the capsule in an unplanned and tricky maneuver.

It was a last-minute wrinkle for a crew that had never piloted a Soyuz before. The Soyuz TMA-5, carrying Russians Salizhan Sharipov and Yuri Shargin and American Leroy Chiao, approached the station so quickly that a danger signal was activated, prompting Mission Control's order for the crew to go manual.

When the ship docked with the station at 8:16 a.m. Moscow time just more than 49 hours after lifting off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, cosmonauts and officials at Mission Control burst into applause.

"Everything went normally, even though we noted a higher speed, close to dangerous, but the crew acted brilliantly," Mission Control chief Vladimir Solovyov said.

NASA deputy administrator Fred Gregory, who observed the docking from Korolyov, said the switch from automatic to manual mode was "seamless."

It was the fourth time a Soyuz has filled in for U.S. space shuttle flights, which were suspended since the Columbia burned up on re-entry in February 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board. The Soyuz is a workhorse of Russia's cash-strapped space program and has a stellar safety record.

But unlike previous Soyuz missions, no members of this crew had flown the spacecraft before.

Space officials downplayed the lack of experience, saying Chiao and Sharipov flew on U.S. shuttles and insisting that the crew underwent sufficient training.

Soyuz spacecraft normally are guided by autopilot on their approach to the station and during the docking, but the crew is trained to operate the capsule manually in case of computer failure.

Solovyov said the ship was switched to manual controls just 660 feet away from the station.

"When the speed became significantly higher than normal, an on- board automatic system warned that the spacecraft were getting dangerously close," Solovyov said.

Source: Daily Breeze

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