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Examination
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Summary
This essay will cover the story of the Soyuz 11 mission. It was a failure that ended in the death of three courageous astronauts, Viktor Patsayev, Vladislav Volkov and Georgi Dobrovolski. This essay will provide background information on the mission’s development, with a particular focus on the safety precautions that were taken for the astronauts. These safety measures did not work on this mission, and I will discuss why. The impact of these failures on future missions will be shown, as well as how they may affect other programs. You should also consider the engineering and materials used in building the rocket for Soyuz 11. This will tell you if the materials and engineering processes used to make the rocket for the Soyuz 11 are suitable for space missions that are subject to extreme stress.
IntroductionThis essay will examine one of history’s most tragic accidents, the Soyuz 11 mission. It was responsible for the deaths of the first three human beings to reach space. I also explain the circumstances surrounding this tragedy. In 1971, Soyuz 11 was an attempt to send three astronauts into orbit to reach Salyut 1, a space station. Soviet Union made the Salyut 1 the first ever space station. It was built in response to American’s landing on the Moon. Salyut 1 launched on April 19, 1971. Because it was not manned when it launched, Soyuz 10 arrived just two days later. It had a crew consisting of three people. Their goal was to spend 30 days on the station conducting experiments. They were able access the station and lock it in, but they couldn’t get inside due to a problem at the hatch. The mission was canceled and they had to return home quickly. The Soyuz 10’s air supply became toxic and contaminated upon their return to earth. However, this did not have any long-lasting consequences for the astronauts, who all returned safely. Soyuz 10’s failure, and the Soviet’s desperate need to not have Salyut 1 without a crew, led to Soyuz 11 being launched on June 6, 1971. The mission began well, with Soyuz 11’s crew successfully docking, entering the space station and becoming the first humans to ever occupy a spacestation. They spent 23 days at the station, where they made 383 orbits of the earth. The crew completed 140 experiments, including radiation exposure measurement, observation of space and the moon, as well many others. The original 30-day mission was scheduled to take place but because of issues at the space station, including an electricity fire, it was cut to 23 days. On the 24th, the crew was due to leave. The Soviet Union, ready to welcome back their heroes, saw that the shuttle had made a successful landing and had deployed the parachutes. They found the shuttle in good condition and no damage from the outside. However, they were shocked to discover that all the crew had died inside. Also, the objective of this essay is to identify the components that failed and cause the deaths. The shuttle had to pass appropriate tests to ensure it could survive re-entry to the atmosphere. This is another aspect that should be considered. Their deaths also had an impact on the rest of the world, and the industry.
AnalysisFirst, it is important to examine every aspect of the circumstances that led to the deaths of the astronauts. They had received reports that the crew was trying to reach them. After opening the hatch, they discovered the three men lying on their backs, with dark-blue marks on their faces, blood trails, and no movement. The match’s 60cm diameter meant that it was difficult for them to be removed from the descent module. Dobrovolski was still warm. Although artificial respiration was given by the doctors in the hope of saving the body, it did not have any effect on the outcome. Their reports indicated that suffocation was responsible for the death. The Soviets investigated the cause of death and other possible causes. The Soviets began to suspect that it was related to the oxygen supply to the astronauts. Soyuz 10 already had problems with its air supply and Soyuz 10 also had issues with its air supply. Although the Soviets demanded another mission to Salyut 1, engineers and scientists didn’t have the time to resolve the problem completely, they tried their best to do so. With more detailed analysis of the probe, it became clear that the astronaut died due to a lack of air supply. The control center and doctors began to suspect that the astronaut’s death was due to decompression. This would have meant that the crew would have been exposed in space. This was first discovered when the control room experienced radio silences most of descent. Though they assumed that it was the failure to use the radio system, this could have been due to crew members being unresponsive. The bodies were found to have been dead for about 30 minutes. However, more alarmingly, the crew was exposed to space vacuum for 12 minutes. This proved that they were the first humans to die in space. To prove that the death was due to decompression, all of the crew’s bodies had been boiled. This happens only after a person has been decompressed. 17 physicians performed the post-mortem. It revealed that all three astronauts experienced brain hemorhages and subcutaneous bleeding. Eardrum damage and ear bleeding were also common.
They assembled a group of 12 people to do full-on research on the Soyuz 11 tragedy. They knew Soyuz 11 had no problems throughout the entire mission. The crew were able get up to the station and connect so they knew it was the descent module. The researchers found that the mercury meter, which was used to measure pressure in the descent modules, had gone from 915mm down to 50mm in just 115 seconds. This indicates that the descent module was depressurized at this time. Without air, the mercury meter would have gone from 915mm to 50mm in 115 seconds. This would explain why the crew died. When the pressure dropped to 150 km, that is when the module separated from the other modules, can be seen. Now that they had determined the moment of decompression, there were two options. They found that one of the values located at the top and bottom of the descent module had been prematurely opened. The second result was that air was allowed to escape through a leaky hatch. The team needed to identify the cause of this problem so they again turned to their black box for any clues. The team used the black box data to determine the pressure loss in one of the valves. After that, they compared the curves to see if they were compatible.
They now knew the cause of the decompression and had to figure out why one valve did not open. Both valves were connected to one electrical circuit, so that they did everything simultaneously. This would have led to both valves opening.
The valve radius of 2cm was used to calculate the volume and speed of the air entering the descent module. This would have resulted in the module pressure nearing zero within 60 seconds after the valve opened. After all this was known, the question was raised as to why the crew did not wear their spacesuits during descent. The spacesuits surround the astronaut in an air bubble so that they have constant air supply and don’t feel decompression effects if the module is compromised. Instead, the crew was instructed to enter the module wearing a’shirt-sleeve’ environment. The crew should have worn the spacesuits if they had landed. This led to serious investigations. The decision to not use spacesuits was made many years before Soyuz 11. 1964 was the year they asked the module designers to make it large enough to hold three astronauts. But when it was completed, they realized that spacesuits were too bulky to fit them all. Instead of building and designing a new spacesuit, they made it small enough for three crew members to wear it. The crew also made a major error later, not filling the tanks with enough air to ensure that they could survive any decompression. The more than 1,000 tests that were done on the tanks proved that there was no problem with the module’s decompression so it didn’t require the additional tanks.
Moscow was brought to Moscow to investigate the reason the valve opened. The idea that the valve had accidentally opened during descent was proposed by the team. The valves were tested repeatedly with high-intensity vibrations as well as powerful shocks. Although they initially thought that the hypothesis was false, someone noticed that all the tests were done under normal atmospheric conditions. This allows for the forces generated to diffuse out (the configuration of the descent modules’ valve) and so the effect would be significantly reduced. They were able to simulate the descent module and conduct tests.
Separating the valves in an altitude chamber. The tests were started but the valves didn’t open after two more tests so they tried again using incorrectly-designed valves. They did the same tests again. After they had applied the whole load on the valves, they found that they opened. The official commission statement explains how the valve opened.
DiscussionThe initial report said there was no failure of this structure. This led to Western observers concluding that the crews are responsible for their deaths. The Washington Post would take over two years to discover that the valve had accidentally opened. This shows that Russia was determined to prove the world they didn’t make a mistake and that it wasn’t their fault for the deaths. A’shirtsleeve-environment’ that could have saved them was also important. They designed the Sokol spacesuit. It was worn first by astronauts on the space mission in 1973. However, the suit was too large to fit astronauts in the Soyuz shuttle. Therefore, the suit still retains its’shirtsleeve environments’. The investigation focused on the main problem and the way it was solved. Both valves were designed to allow fresh air to enter the cabin by opening when the parachutes are approximately 5 km above the ground. Testing for the valve revealed that the conditions were too crowded. This caused the valve to instantly improve and was aligned for future missions.
Conclusion Based on the analysis, it appears that the valve prematurely opened caused the cabin to depressurize, which resulted in the crew all dying from the space vacuum. It is also incorrectly configured for the mission. Additionally, tests on the module and its components showed that it was not suitable for space. Another important factor was that crew members were told to wear’shirt sleeves’ when in the module. Crew would have survived if they had the spacesuits as they would have been protected and not depressurized. The world was shocked by Soyuz 11, and the space mission experience of countries around the globe made it clear that mistakes can be costly, as even the smallest errors can have a huge impact on astronauts. It made it possible for my components to undergo more intense testing to ensure nothing goes wrong. This shock shocked the Soviet Union especially as the crew were considered heroes. Thousands of people came out to pay respects to their families and the crew at the funeral with gold stars on their chests.