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Soyuz Ballistic Re-entry 300 Miles Off Course

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the you-know-you-need-the-soviet-russia-joke dept.

call-me-kenneth writes "Soyuz TMA-11, carrying a crew of three returning from the ISS, unexpectedly followed a high-G ballistic re-entry trajectory and ended up landing 300 miles off-course. The crew, including Commander Peggy Whitson and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, are reportedly in good health. Soyuz capsules have previously saved the lives of the crew even after severe malfunctions that might have led to the loss of a less robust vehicle."

10 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. How far exactly? by MagdJTK · · Score: 5, Funny
    According to the first paragraph of the article, the distance by which they were off was 400km, which Slashdot claims is 300 miles.

    Perhaps the calculations were done by the same person who worked out the re-entry trajectory?

    1. Re:How far exactly? by call-me-kenneth · · Score: 5, Funny
      Story submitter here... I used 300 miles because the NASA press release (the second link in the story) says:

      "The landing was approximately 295 miles from the expected landing site" ...which I rounded to 300 to try to make the story sound more exciting than it really is, just in order to flatter my inadequate sense of identity and self-esteem. Little did I reckon on the elite mental arithmetic of the Slashdot readership! I hang my head in shame.
  2. Genie in a Bottle by skeeto · · Score: 4, Funny

    They didn't come back with any beautiful, belly-buttonless genies, did they?

  3. Re:Ballistic trajectory? by MopedJesus · · Score: 4, Funny

    The "ballistic trajectory" seems to be an euphemism for coming down like a rock.

    A jet mechanic friend of mine is fond of the phrase "the glide-ratio of a rock".

    --
    -- VOTE -- Moped Jesus in '08!
  4. Re:Ballistic trajectory? by Fishead · · Score: 5, Funny

    According to the voice data recorder, the last comment before the course change was:

    "Screw you guys, I'm going home."

  5. Re:sort of off-topic by ozmanjusri · · Score: 5, Funny
    Out of curiosity, how does that statement make me a foreigner?

    You've made an intelligent point without threatening anyone.

    That's downright unamerican.

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  6. Re:Astronauts. by NewbieProgrammerMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Stories like this remind me of the huge BALLS it takes to strap yourself onto a rocket and fly straight into orbit, and then come back down again.

    Maybe you should say huge nads or something else that's more unisex, considering both of the astronauts in this case were women. :)
    --
    [b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
  7. Re:sort of off-topic by Jesus_666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's right, we Europeans are above randomly threatening people. And if anyone disagrees I'll smash his face in with a brick!

    --
    USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  8. Re:Heavyside Layers by call-me-kenneth · · Score: 4, Funny

    Alan Shepard hit over 11g during re-entry, and he didn't pass out and could still hit switches. Yeah? Well Chuck Norris could hit 12G and wouldn't need to hit the switches, he'd just look at them and they'd switch themselves out of pure fear.
  9. Re:Ballistic trajectory? by garlicbready · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm sure it was
    "Nyet Nyet, metric I tell you metric"