[FPSPACE] Soyuz TMA-14 thruster failure -- not a major problem

[James Oberg]

>From today's On-Orbit Status Report

   Soyuz TMA-14/18S MCS Test: Early in the morning, CDR Padalka & FE-1 Barratt worked in the Soyuz TMA-14/18S for the scheduled testing of the spacecraft's SUDN MCS (Motion Control System) procedures at 4:49am -5:15am EDT, but they ran into an anomaly when posigrade (forward-pushing) KDU thrusters did not fire when commanded. Normally these thrusters are not used for the retrograde burns required for the undocking, but Moscow has scheduled a second MCS test tomorrow. [The anomaly is not seen as a major problem and is not expected to affect the Soyuz undocking on 10/10 since it does not interfere with the spacecraft's ability to undock and reenter the atmosphere. If tomorrow's test results are the same, TsUP-Moscow will make procedural changes.]



JimO asks -- has this ever happened before? 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.friends-partners.org/pipermail/fpspace/attachments/20091007/a2cf3ceb/attachment.html