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MOSCOW – Just 119 seconds after the launch of the rocket and Soyuz capsule on Thursday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, a serious malfunction occurred. He interrupted the flight at the edge of space in zero gravity, endangering the American astronaut and the Russian cosmonaut on board. And as luck would have it, he blocked an investigation into alleged sabotage allegations, the International Space Station.
Soyuz vehicles are equipped for such emergencies. The capsule immediately began to fall to the ground in what NASA officials called a "ballistic re-entry", spinning like a bullet, the heat shield reaching temperatures of about 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, subjecting the men to Inside about 7G, seven times the gravity.
In a few minutes, they were located and saved. Nick Hague of the United States and Alexey Ovchinin of Russia survived. But the event was a huge embarrassment for Moscow and many other bad news for President Vladimir Putin.
In almost two decades, Kremlin officials have learned a lesson: the boss hates embarrassing chess in front of important foreign eyes. But the 100th anniversary of the aerospace company Energia will be remembered as a nightmare in the history of Russian space. And also as a symbol of the Kremlin's failing management, its excessive self-confidence and its constant efforts to hide the truth from its citizens.
To mark the jubilee, important guests, including NASA's Jim Niden and Russian space agency head Dmitry Rogozin, arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Rogozin and Bridenstine had met in person for the first time earlier this week. The anniversary program included the launch of the Soyuz Rocket, a discussion of a potential cooperation in the framework of a lunar program and a friendly feast. In anticipation of the meeting, Rogozin announced on Twitter that he would show his American colleague his childhood album of Soviet and American planes.
Meanwhile, Roscosmos flashed pictures of the crew members about to take off for the International Space Station. The American Nick Hague and the Russian Alexey Ovchinin shook hands under the word "Союз, "Soyuz, the Russian name of the rocket and the space capsule, which means" unity ".
As we know, this anniversary did not happen as planned. The escape to the edge of space and the survival of the two men in good condition could have been interpreted as a compliment diverted from Russian technology, or at least its security measures. But the Russian space industry was not celebrating, and if she had not been associated with the Americans, she might have tried to keep the incident secret.
"In almost two decades, Kremlin officials have learned a lesson: the boss hates embarrassing chess in front of important foreign eyes."
Russian citizens have heard the news of the accident by NASA and not by Roscosmos, the state company responsible for launches. A few minutes passed after the crew landed safely in Kazakhstan, but Rogozin remained silent about the failure of the launch.
Some of the most widely read online publications in Russia, including Gazeta.ru and Moskovsky Komsomolets, have pointed out that the Soviet authorities once had kept the nation in the dark. "It seems that Roscosmos solemnly follows the Soviet tradition of keeping secrets from accidents and technological disasters as long as possible," Gazeta.ru said. "The USSR has not published information about space ship accidents nor about the Chernobyl disaster."
This analogy was particularly painful given the disastrous nuclear contamination and political fallout from this 1986 tragedy. The authors recalled that the world had been informed of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster by the Swedish authorities, when a radioactive cloud appeared over Scandinavia. The article noted that "Roscosmos has stopped broadcasting live video coverage from launch to critical time, obviously trying to turn the accident into an additional secret."
On the eve of this unfortunate launch, Bridenstine described the Spatio-American cooperation in space as "a tremendous opportunity to be part of the story." American astronauts met in space.
Today, the Soyuz is the only vehicle carrying people to and from the International Space Station, a scientific laboratory in orbit valued at $ 100 billion. It was "inspiring" to see a Russian-American space team working together, said Bridenstine about Hague and Ovchinine. While Bridenstine spoke, Rogozin nodded, cold air. Russian officials generally believe that US space research depends on Russian Soyuz society.
Despite fierce controversy between Moscow and Washington on other fronts, space exploration has been a last frontier of friendly professional cooperation. It now seems that the future of peaceful joint projects is in question. Earlier this year, Rogozin said Russia would not cooperate with the US on a lunar program unless the partnership is "tied".
For decades, the Russians have been proud of the Soyuz vehicle, designed to rescue human beings on board, regardless of their 500-second flight stage to space. Once again, the legacy of Soviet space science has borne fruit: Soyuz was still a state-of-the-art technology and the International Space Station still needed it. The subject of the investigation must be inside Roscosmos and Energia. But Rogozin plans to handle the investigation.
In Moscow, the space authorities felt embarrassed and perplexed when discussing various versions of the cause of the accident, including sabotage. The point was that the Ovchinin mission was supposed to include an investigation into a mysterious hole drilled in the Russian module of the International Space Station. In the event that Ovchinin finds evidence that the hole was drilled on the ground, the shadow of guilt would have fallen on Energia. Alas, there will be no investigation any time soon.
It is unclear how long the Kremlin will investigate the accident, how long will Soyuz bring back three people aboard the International Space Station. In Moscow, observers and space experts have described the accident as "shocking" and "shameful". Olga Bychkova, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Echo of Moscow, was not surprised. "For years, Russian and international space experts and scientists have warned of a disaster, because Russian industry has caused damage at all levels, from production to testing to the launching of spacecraft" said Bychkova. "Roscosmos and Energia are in bad shape, the only thing that surprises is why the accident did not happen much earlier," added Bychkova.
Today, thousands of Russian engineers, scientists and astronauts involved in the space industry are hoping that Russian – US space cooperation will not be doomed to failure, at the same time. like the launch of the Soyuz rocket Thursday.
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