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Energiya Pushes For A 6-Person Space Capsule

Posted by timothy on from the isn't-funded-'til-it's-funded dept.

voss writes "Apparently the Russians want to build their own reusable capsule called the Clipper that can be used up to 25 times and can fit 6 people. They also say they can build their ship in 5 years. The key here is if they can get the funding. The shuttle will be retired in 2010 and with no credible replacement on the horizon...why doesn't NASA give the Russians a chance?"

1 of 391 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Russians Do It More Economically by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yes, 3 persons killed in soyuz 11 and 3 persons killed in the soyuz 1.

    There have been more than 800 soyuz flights (source: http://www.starsem.com/soyuz/introduction.htm).

    If we assume on average ~2 (I believe its higher) cosmonauts for each soyuz, that means that ~ 1600 has travelled in a soyuz. Out of these 1600, 6 have died. => death ratio on: 6/1600 = 0.00375.

    The space shuttle has had a total of 111 missions:

    Challenger: 10
    Columbia: 28
    Atlantis: 26
    Discovery: 30
    Endeavour: 17

    In these missions we assume an average of 6. (I believe its lower though). This makes the total of shuttle-astronauts: 666. With 14 dead this makes a death-ratio on: 14/666 = 0.0210.

    (or about 5.6 times higher).

    Now these figures are on "per traveller". But the risks are more associated with launches. On this front the soyuz has 2 failed missions in 800 and the shuttle has 2 failed missions in 111.

    Then, of course, we have the costs. A soyuz-launch cost about 20 million dollars. A shuttle launch, on the other hand, cost about 500 million dollars (source: wikipedia).

    BUT! What everyone is forgetting is that these 2 ships are not compareable. The soyuz is a human-crew only capsule and the space shuttle is a reusable crew & equipment lifter. However, the conclusions one can draw is that it might be more efficient and safer to launch humans in human capsules (reusable or not) and launch the equipment on a separate booster earlier. (This is how the russians have constructed their space stations in the past - which has worked). There is very little need in sending up the equipment and humans at the same time - unless you are in a hurry.