Unless you are thinking of flying Soyuz-MS 11 unmanned atop the Soyuz-FG already scheduled for the launch?
Quote from: Phillip Clark on 10/11/2018 12:21 pmUnless you are thinking of flying Soyuz-MS 11 unmanned atop the Soyuz-FG already scheduled for the launch?I mean, before you have to leave the ISS uncrewed, look over that Soyuz-FG again thoroughly and then do a Hail Mary punt, maybe it goes to space, maybe it doesn't, what's the worst that could happen? You throw away 50 million dollars or blow up your launch pad? Meh. If it doesn't blow up, beautiful, just saved that crewed ISS record!Very Kerbal-esque.
Mid-November does sound like the Progress you mentioned though, in the ISS calendar that's October 31, two or three weeks later now?But yeah, sure sounds quick, I wonder what the MS-11 crew thinks about all this besides "Eh, at least David Saint-Jacques is a medical doctor, better than crash-landing with a fighter pilot and a geophysicist."
Not undiplomatic at all. The Shuttle was retired because it was unsafe...
Quote from: AncientU on 10/11/2018 12:13 pmNot undiplomatic at all. The Shuttle was retired because it was unsafe...Not true.The Shuttle was safe to fly so long as it was flown safely.Both Shuttle losses were due entirely to administrative mismanagement.Challenger: Management decision to launch outside safe operating parameters and against ATK engineering advice.Columbia: Management decision to dismiss potential tile damage after actually seeing foam strike on wing LE. Considered foam too fluffy to cause structural damage. Again, ignoring engineering advice to the contrary.
The Shuttle was retired because it was unsafe (among other reasons).
The Shuttle was safe to fly so long as it was flown safely.
You deleted the qualifier...QuoteThe Shuttle was retired because it was unsafe (among other reasons).
The possible issue they are reporting, one of boosters hitting 2nd stage...Did anything like that happen before in 52 years of Soyuz launches?
Of course if Russia can launch an unmanned life boat that opens some interesting options for DM-1 and DM-2. You could extend DM-1's stay at the station as a life boat and launch 5 or 6 crew on DM-2. This would give you two return craft but keep the ISS at it's crew of 5. Starliner will not be ready to be involved nor could it carry extra crew members like Dragon could..
Expect ISS to be decrewed. The Russians will know potentially within a few weeks how long the delog and investigation will take. If it's more than a couple months NASA will pull our guys off out of caution more than anything.And then there is what POTUS may do. Very unlikely he doesn't get involved. Also there is congress. Nobody in congress is friendly with the Russians right now and that won't change after the election. Expect them to get involved on this heavily. Personally I think there's a chance we are done on Russian vehicles after this.