Author Topic: Injuries during Soyuz landings (Read 3172 times)

Phillip Clark · « **on:** 10/27/2016 05:54 pm »

http://nasawatch.com/archives/2016/10/one-third-of-us.html

So, 37.5% of NASA astronauts are injured during Soyuz recoveries. What would be interesting is what the percentage is for Russians who are injured during these same landings. If the NASA injury rate is higher than the Russian one then maybe NASA's astronauts are no longer the "right stuff"?

baldusi · « **Reply #1 on:** 10/27/2016 06:09 pm »

Quote from: Phillip Clark on 10/27/2016 05:54 pm

http://nasawatch.com/archives/2016/10/one-third-of-us.html

So, 37.5% of NASA astronauts are injured during Soyuz recoveries. What would be interesting is what the percentage is for Russians who are injured during these same landings. If the NASA injury rate is higher than the Russian one then maybe NASA's astronauts are no longer the "right stuff"?

The Right Stuff for what? Astronauts are a lot more specialist than explorers in the ISS now. And the finding is a quite critical one for any Mars mission.

eeergo · « **Reply #2 on:** 10/27/2016 06:33 pm »

8 bruises and 6 "others" (muscle-skeletal injury and nerve trauma, plus a "miscellaneous", all of which I would be interested in knowing more about) in 9 crewmembers flying TMAs (not TMA-Ms).

This includes TMA-1's and -11's ballistic entries, the latter of which failed to separate the Service Module. Three US astronauts flew on those in total. Six others therefore were injured during nominal EDLs, including bruising. No mention is made on whether these injuries are determined with certainty to have occurred before hatch opening or during extraction.

No correlation offered with respect to Russian cosmonauts or other nationalities.

This is a summer school project by an undergraduate student.

ONE THIRD OF US ASTRONAUTS INJURED !!!1! reads much differently when taking that into account

Phillip Clark · « **Reply #3 on:** 10/27/2016 06:35 pm »

The right stuff comment was tongue in cheek.

And the data are meaningless unless you have a comparison with Russians who landed on the same missions as the NASA crew who were injured. Maybe the Russians are doing something right and the NASA astronauts are doing something incorrect? I don't know but Russian data as a comparison are essential before we can judge.

zubenelgenubi · « **Reply #4 on:** 10/27/2016 06:39 pm »

There could be a correlation with seat position. I'd suggest that to the various program doctors as a topic to pursue. (They may have already done so?)

However, determining that would require the medical data on all the astronauts and cosmonauts.

Stan Black · « **Reply #5 on:** 10/30/2016 10:13 am »

How many stay upright after landing? Does that affect things?

jacqmans · « **Reply #6 on:** 10/30/2016 10:53 am »

A Soyuz landing is like hitting a wall with your car at 30 km a hour. So yes it is not a surprise that some get injured.... but so far nobody died and almost all of the Russian cosmonauts flew another mission. And the real American astronauts flew again also on Soyuz.