Vostochny Launch Building Built To the Wrong Size

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Vostochny Launch Building Built To the Wrong Size

Posted by timothy on Sunday October 4, 2015 @02:40AM from the wasn't-even-a-metric-problem dept.

schwit1 writes: The Russians have just discovered that their Soyuz 2 rocket does not fit in the building just finished at their new spaceport at Vostochny: "The cutting-edge facility was meant be ready for launches of Soyuz-2 rockets in December, but an unidentified space agency told the TASS news agency late Thursday that the rocket would not fit inside the assembly building where its parts are stacked and tested before launch. The building 'has been designed for a different modification of the Soyuz rocket,' the source said, according to news website Medusa, which picked up the story from TASS." The rocket had just been delivered to Vostochny for assembly, so this report, though unconfirmed at this time, fits well with current events.

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Is building in danger of being crushed by a dwarf? by Anonymous Coward · 2015-10-04 02:58 · Score: 5, Funny

"Putin gave me a drawing that said 18 inches. Now, whether or not he knows the difference between feet and inches is not my problem. I do what I'm told."
Meters by Dan+East · 2015-10-04 03:01 · Score: 4, Funny

One group was using Putin's left arm length for Russia's official designation of the meter, while another group was using his right arm. Apparently he isn't perfectly symmetrical.

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Better known as 318230.
1. Re:Meters by Anonymous Coward · 2015-10-04 03:17 · Score: 1
  
  But of COURSE Comrade Putin is symmetrical! The measurements must have been performed by a substandard "western" device which was improperly calibrated. Comrade Putin is the most symmetrical among the party leaders, saying otherwise is treason tovarisch.
2. Re:Meters by arglebargle_xiv · 2015-10-04 14:29 · Score: 1
  
  But of COURSE Comrade Putin is symmetrical!
  In fact, he's a polygon of 132 sides.
  I'd heard he was two-faced, but for someone like Putin I can easily believe he's 132-faced.
3. Re:Meters by WallyL · 2015-10-05 05:06 · Score: 1
  
  Apparently he isn't perfectly symmetrical.
  That's what she said!
I want to see the video... by Rei · 2015-10-04 03:13 · Score: 1

... where all of the engineers have rounded up their buddies with trucks and backhoes and are trying to jam the rocket parts into place. "Come oooooon, it has to fiiiiit...."
I feel bad for whoever it is who will end up being declared a foreign agent embezzling money to support Ukrainian Nazis after this fiasco.

--
The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems.
1. Re:I want to see the video... by manu0601 · 2015-10-04 14:02 · Score: 1
  
  The Rada voted Yanukovich out - even including a majority of his own party. Russia claims that "proper parliamentary procedure" was not followed, but they're not the arbiter of that, the Ukrainian constitutional court is.
  Correct me if I am wrong, but IIRC the constitutional court was revoked before it had its word on Yanukovich revocation procedure.
  But breaking constitutional rule may be okay, if this is the People will. After all, any serious revolution is about changing constitution (or creating one). My understanding of Ukraine's new power sins is that constitution was broken, but no new constitution was produced. As a result, the supreme rules seems to apply in some situations but not others, which makes it illegitimate.
2. Re:I want to see the video... by Cyberax · 2015-10-04 19:13 · Score: 1
  
  The new power in Ukraine passed laws far worse than Yanukovich did. And right now nobody in Ukraine cares about the piece of paper called "Constitution" - it's almost an anarchy with several power centers vying for control.
3. Re:I want to see the video... by manu0601 · 2015-10-05 12:35 · Score: 1
  
  The first thing a new government done after kicking out Yanukovich was to organise a democratic elections for a new president
  
  That does not fix the constitutional problem. Poroshenko may claim some legitimacy because he won election by a high margin, but the constitution itself is now viewed as illegitimate by a lot of people. Poroshenko is the legitimate president of an entity that is not Ukraine as we knew it.
  It would have been easy to fix that, by just crafting a new constitution and having it approved by the People of Ukraine. I still do not understand why it was not done.
It's not an error by invictusvoyd · 2015-10-04 03:15 · Score: 3, Insightful

It was designed for a different rocket . And they are trying to use a different version of the rocket. From the looks of it , they are trying to improvise . I mean seriously , they built the first operational space station !
1. Re:It's not an error by invictusvoyd · 2015-10-04 03:37 · Score: 1
  
  Looks like a forward-compatibility issue . They should employ Microsoft as consultants for version control. Sweet and simple .. just bomb that last locket.
2. Re:It's not an error by Anonymous Coward · 2015-10-04 03:53 · Score: 1
  
  I wonder if the CIA ever did something like this... had a spy change the measurement on some engineering specs just slightly, make them waste a ton of money.
  Perhaps I should re-phrase... I wonder how many times the CIA has done something like this....
3. Re:It's not an error by Stormwatch · 2015-10-04 04:21 · Score: 2
  
  Well, it is rumored that the Concorde team put in circulation a set of blueprints with errors because they expected the Soviets to steal those designs for the Tu-144.
  
  --
  Circumcision is child abuse.
4. Re:It's not an error by ydrozd · 2015-10-04 06:21 · Score: 2
  
  If you mean "Mir" (which is not the first, BTW, the first was Almaz/Salut circa 1971), it was built by Soviet Union, not Russia. In fact, the most technologically advanced systems, such as nav/docking systems ("Kurs") and "Kvant" controls were developed in Ukraine (Kiev Radiozavod and Kharkiv Elektropribor correspondingly), and are now lost to Russians (esp. given current war with Ukraine). Russia has been leaking science and engineering brains at ever increasing rates; so the failures of their space exploration programs are not surprising.
5. Re:It's not an error by HiThere · 2015-10-04 08:37 · Score: 1
  
  What you say may be true, but this kind of error isn't one of advanced technology. This is more like the Mars probe that hard impacted because of a units mix-up. And that wasn't the first. Using high tech doesn't get you away from low tech errors. (Even with just metric you can mix-up cm and mm, though it's more difficult.)
  
  --
  
  I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
6. Re:It's not an error by guestapoo · 2015-10-04 08:59 · Score: 1
  
  In the Soviet time, they "distributed" the academies, industries, scientific institutes to states, not centralized them. That why Tupolev now located in Ukraine, bus producer moved to Latvia (can't remember a name), nuclear research in Novosibirsk, etc. Some from Ukraine moved to Russian and vise versa.
7. Re:It's not an error by guestapoo · 2015-10-04 10:36 · Score: 1
  
  I think the other version is considered more believable, that Soviet got the draft version of Concorde, which is (was) inferior. That why they had to add the canard wing, and landing with higher speed (than Concorde), which, why they must added braking parachute. Also, Concorde have better brake, too.
8. Re:It's not an error by arglebargle_xiv · 2015-10-04 14:37 · Score: 1
  
  I wonder if the CIA ever did something like this... had a spy change the measurement on some engineering specs just slightly, make them waste a ton of money.
  In that case someone should tell the CIA to stop messing with US defence programs (F35, Zumwalt, SBX, GMD, etc). The mess they've made there makes a Russian hangar pale into insignificance.
9. Re:It's not an error by arglebargle_xiv · 2015-10-04 14:39 · Score: 1
  
  controls were developed in Ukraine, and are now lost to Russians
  Tsar Putin is working to correct that, please hold...
10. Re:It's not an error by dbIII · 2015-10-04 15:03 · Score: 1
  
  I'll have to remember that excuse next time I mess up a design of something.
Re: Is building in danger of being crushed by a dw by slasher999 · 2015-10-04 03:22 · Score: 1

Yup, perfect reference. Spinal Tap for those who don't know. Well played.
Well there's your problem by JustAnotherOldGuy · 2015-10-04 03:25 · Score: 2

"I cut it three times and it's STILL too short!" - Russian construction worker

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Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
1. Re:Well there's your problem by Rei · 2015-10-04 03:58 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  The funny thing is that in 2013 they actually lost a Proton-M and $1.3B of technical equipment because a technician installed the angular velocity sensors upside down. There was one problem in doing so, in that they didn't even fit upside down - but no worries, he was able to hammer them into place ;)
  
  --
  The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems.
2. Re:Well there's your problem by JustAnotherOldGuy · 2015-10-04 04:19 · Score: 1
  
  There was one problem in doing so, in that they didn't even fit upside down - but no worries, he was able to hammer them into place ;)
  Lol, Russian ingenuity will overcome anything, including common sense and "fits-only-one-way" parts.
  
  --
  Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
3. Re:Well there's your problem by jtownatpunk.net · 2015-10-04 05:43 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  My grandpa worked for Lockheed's space and missile division way back in the day. He said the attitude sensors for one of the rockets could be installed (or connected; I forget which) backwards and the rocket would think it was pointed in the opposite direction of its actual orientation and try to turn around. The bureaucracy involved in redesigning that single part was so cumbersome they just added a new pre-flight check. Send someone up the gantry to push the rocket and verify that the readings matched the push.
  Fast-forward a few decades and one of my roommates worked for Lockheed. This was when they had a series of failed launches and were trying to figure out what the heck was going on. My roommate was on the team investigating one of the botched launches and they came to the conclusion that the rocket decided it was pointed 180 degrees from its actual orientation and it tried to turn around.
  CSB, I have some telemetry strips from the Discoverer launches way back in the day. Found them when cleaning out my grandpa's garage a few years ago. Almost threw them out because they'd clearly been defiled by mice but I unrolled one a little bit and realized what they were.
4. Re:Well there's your problem by thinkwaitfast · 2015-10-04 06:17 · Score: 1
  
  push the rocket and verify that the readings matched the push.
  I've actually done this, but in lab.
5. Re:Well there's your problem by rtb61 · 2015-10-04 12:18 · Score: 1
  
  More likely, nepotism rarely produces successes and only exists because how else will those losers get a job. The more nepotism is entrenched in a bureaucracy the worse the outcomes.
  
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  Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
In soviet russia by invictusvoyd · 2015-10-04 03:28 · Score: 1

rocket launch tower !!
1. Re:In soviet russia by Rei · 2015-10-04 04:18 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Great, now I'm picturing a Russian version of the "Monorail song", with the Lyle Lanley guy having a heavy Russian accent.
  The Soyuz will not fit in there
  "The building's tall, like Russian bear!"
  What if perchance the roof should bend?
  "Not on your life, my Yakut friend!"
  What about us cleptocrats?
  "Your wallets will grow very fat!"
  My vodka's gone and now I'm sad.
  "Have another, dear comrade!"
  Were you sent here by the Kremlin?
  (displeased voice) ".... Next question please." (waves for undercover agents to take him out of the room)
  "You see it's Vostochny only choice. Now throw up hands and raise the voice."
  Cosmodrome! Cosmodrome! Cosmodrome!
  
  --
  The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems.
2. Re:In soviet russia by ClickOnThis · 2015-10-04 04:29 · Score: 1
  
  In soviet russia ... rocket launch building built to wrong size for you!
  FTFY
  
  --
  If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
I wonder if... by dbarclay10 · 2015-10-04 03:29 · Score: 1

I wonder if it was something as embarrassing as an imperial/metric conversion gone wrong? :)

--

Barclay family motto:
Aut agere aut mori.
(Either action or death.)
1. Re:I wonder if... by myowntrueself · 2015-10-04 07:06 · Score: 1
  
  I wonder if it was something as embarrassing as an imperial/metric conversion gone wrong? :)
  This is Russia, surely they don't use freedom units!!!??
  
  --
  In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
2. Re:I wonder if... by jimtheowl · 2015-10-04 10:28 · Score: 2
  
  I'm guessing you know this, but the the only countries that don't are the USA, Liberia, and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
3. Re:I wonder if... by myowntrueself · 2015-10-04 10:52 · Score: 1
  
  I'm guessing you know this, but the the only countries that don't are the USA, Liberia, and Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
  To the 'Murcan 'freedom' units are 'Imperial units', the other units are 'surrender monkey units' and their simple base 10 system is beneath 'Murca.
  
  --
  In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
4. Re:I wonder if... by jimtheowl · 2015-10-06 08:50 · Score: 1
  
  'Murcan' freedom is not freedom at all. Perhaps you meant to imply it, but your signature is lacking the case where corporate interests own both media and government. That would seem to be the case in 'the land of the free'.
5. Re:I wonder if... by myowntrueself · 2015-10-06 09:05 · Score: 1
  
  'Murcan' freedom is not freedom at all.
  Perhaps you meant to imply it, but your signature is lacking the case where corporate interests own both media and government. That would seem to be the case in 'the land of the free'.
  well obviously its a reference to media corporations... which effectively own democratic governments.
  At least totalitarian regimes have some claim to legitimacy. Democratic governments have none.
  
  --
  In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
same thing happened by dwpbike · 2015-10-04 03:53 · Score: 1

on my honeymoon
Idiocracy is now. by koan · 2015-10-04 04:01 · Score: 1

Measure twice cut once.

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"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Curious by gman003 · 2015-10-04 04:25 · Score: 1

Per Wikipedia, the Soyuz-FG has a height of 49.5m, and the Soyuz-2 has a height of 46.1m, with identical widths. Now, it's possible that the Soyuz-FG figure includes the payload while the Soyuz-2 figure does not, but it's also possible this article is wrong (either it's something specific sized that "rocket is too small" can be a problem, or it's complete bullshit).
I'm actually not sure who would be more likely to be wrong, given a choice between Wikipedia and a Russian news source. Both have a pretty good history of inaccuracy.
1. Re:Curious by hey! · 2015-10-04 08:19 · Score: 1
  
  Oy. Give it a rest already.
  
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  Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
2. Re:Curious by guestapoo · 2015-10-04 08:20 · Score: 1
  
  If this is a pro-Kremlin news, one would rise question about its credibility. But, The Moscow Times is not, so don't bother, they tell the truth. (cheap ranting ;)
  
  Now, dig inside the article:
  
  1. They cited Medusa (may be Meduza.io, that's what Google said). That said:
  
  according to news website Medusa, which picked up the story from TASS.... but an unidentified space agency of a of a told the TASS
  But,
  
  The quote could not be found on TASS, a state-owned news agency
  They did not said the quote was deleted, or it's never published?? Who is unidentified agency??? Such a confusion, when no one but Medusa can confirm (and may be never).
  
  2. The article quality is full of spelling errors. May be they just rushed to publish it.
  
  news agency of a of a ...... 'S Report instead TASS quoted ........ 's Demand Putin looks increasingly unlikely to be met ..... Month Last, Gazeta.ru news website
3. Re:Curious by murdocj · 2015-10-04 09:08 · Score: 1
  
  Huh?
4. Re:Curious by guestapoo · 2015-10-04 09:30 · Score: 2
  
  May be Wikipedia is right.
  After fighting with Russian words (Google translator) and searching with Yandex (you can't find the meaningful result with Google). Here some useful infos:
  
  1) All sources cited from Meduza.io
  
  2) check out the forum:
  http://novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru...
  https://translate.google.com/t...
  
  According to the external dimensions of the package is the same in both products. And air rudders have both.
  3) Official respond (predictable, they claim the rumor is wrong):
  http://www.ampravda.ru/2015/10...
  
  Carrier rocket "Soyuz-2", which is to start from the cosmodrome Vostochny, fully meets the technical requirements and the size of the object space of the harbor. Special train with the spacecraft for a few days is at the railway station waiting for the spaceport and transport nodes "Soyuz" in the assembly and test complex (MIC). It will build and launch preparations for the launch.
  .......
  According to the press service of the Center of Operation of Land Space Infrastructure (COLSI), the only obstacle preventing to get to work — not full readiness of MIKa
  In the forum posts above, they post image of "special train" mentioned in the article:
  http://oborona.gov.ru/common/m...
5. Re:Curious by PrimaryConsult · 2015-10-05 00:15 · Score: 1
  
  Social Justice Warriors - there's apparently a lot of history re-writing going on in some articles.
  I can't point you to any of them because technical (and historical > 500 years ago) articles are pretty much all I read on WP...
Re:eh? by fruviad · 2015-10-04 05:05 · Score: 1

No...this one is the fault of Bloody Stupid Johnson. The entire Wizard's Guild has been too busy dealing with the "Modo Tranmogrification Incident" to comment.
Re:Launch Building Built by mrbester · 2015-10-04 05:08 · Score: 1

I see two gerunds and a verb.

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"Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
Re:Is building in danger of being crushed by a dwa by msauve · 2015-10-04 05:15 · Score: 1

They built it in arshins, and not meters. (1 arshin = 71.72 cm)

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"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Maybe the rocket doesn't work? by HouseOfMisterE · 2015-10-04 05:28 · Score: 1

Could be that Russia is doing a bit of CYA while they figure out technical difficulties with the rocket, so they just say "It doesn't fit" for now?
Re:Is building in danger of being crushed by a dwa by Anonymous Coward · 2015-10-04 07:47 · Score: 1

Ironically, US is the last developed country that uses imperial system. So US is the last colony.
Re:Measure Twice, Cut Once by hey! · 2015-10-04 08:19 · Score: 1

Doesn't help when you have the wrong target measurement.

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Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Re:Fuck the SI units by HiThere · 2015-10-04 08:32 · Score: 1

Do you prefer furlongs or rods as a measure of distance? Imperial or US gallons as a measure of liquid volume?
Etc.

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I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
reminds me of the time by ILongForDarkness · 2015-10-04 10:53 · Score: 1

I couldn't get my rocket in the package er building it was meant for.
Re:This would never happen in the Soviet Union by arglebargle_xiv · 2015-10-04 14:50 · Score: 1

They would just build two more towers, each twice as big as the other.
They don't have to be twice as big, they just have to go to 11 instead of only 10.
Read As by NicknameUnavailable · 2015-10-04 15:20 · Score: 1

Vasectomy Launch Building.
Re:Not shoes you want to ever be in by cavreader · 2015-10-04 15:39 · Score: 1

This incident is trivial when compared to the Hubble space telescope fiasco. After it was placed in orbit they discovered the main optical lens had been installed backwards. This then required a Shuttle mission to correct the problem.
Could be worse... by __aaclcg7560 · 2015-10-05 03:29 · Score: 1

A defense contractor welded a section of a British submarine upside down.
http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-09/news/mn-814_1_nuclear-powered-submarines
Re:Not shoes you want to ever be in by cavreader · 2015-10-05 12:47 · Score: 1

You have to admit it had to be very embarrassing to the people working on the project. You build an orbital telescope platform and right off the bat they needed to install contact lenses.
Lack of QA by MoarSauce123 · 2015-10-06 23:24 · Score: 1

This is what happens when quality assurance is cut short and when the lowly engineer pointing out the flaw gets fired rather than taken seriously. Just cut the roof off, some rain and snow, dust and dirt won't hurt.