[FPSPACE] Dropping back into the atmosphere at Mach 25 is never 'routine'....

[Jim Oberg]

Dropping back into the atmosphere at Mach 25 is never 'routine'....
as still-unexplained events on the LAST Soyuz descent remind us.

msnbc.com (Oberg): Space crew weathers a scare during re-entry

Air leaked out of Russian descent module as it flew from station to Earth

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9697668/

By James Oberg, NBC News space analyst // Special to MSNBC

Updated: 5:01 p.m. ET Oct. 14, 2005

   Russia's Mission Control endured a brief but private scare during this week's return of a Soyuz spacecraft from the international space station with three riders aboard, those familiar with the flight now say.

   As the Soyuz descent module headed back to Earth, instruments indicated that air was leaking out - the same kind of failure that killed three cosmonauts in June 1971 on their way home from the world's first space station, Russia's Salyut 1.

   Since that tragedy, all passengers aboard Soyuz spacecraft have worn pressure suits during such mission-critical phases. Had Monday's air leak been severe enough, the suits would have saved the men's lives.


Dangling strap to blame for scary space leak?

Russian space officials say 'rushed' crew failed to shut hatch properly

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9888881/

By James Oberg, NBC News space analyst // Special to MSNBC

Updated: 8:04 p.m. ET Nov. 1, 2005

   Russian space officials are unofficially blaming the alarming pressure drop during last month's landing of the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft on a dangling strap and crew error, MSNBC.com has learned. The Russian space agency's draft report on the matter remains unsigned, however, according to the NASA safety official who provided MSNBC.com with a copy of the report. 

   The NASA official, who asked his name not be revealed, said that "disagreements between the specialists and crew" still had to be resolved, but that the Russians had shared the draft report in an e-mail to their NASA counterparts.

   The pressure drop during the Oct. 11 landing is not a secret - both Soyuz commander Sergey Krikalev and passenger Gregory Olsen have publicly made reference to the unusual event. But neither the U.S. or Russian space agencies have offered any comment. The third man aboard the Soyuz as it returned to Earth from the international space station, NASA astronaut John Phillips, has not referred to the matter, either.