06 August 2003 13:53

Russian Soyuz spacecraft to be fitted with new re-entry equipment

Moscow, 6 August: Equipment controlling the re-entry phase is being
replaced at all manned Soyuz spacecraft. "The first such unit,
upgraded in keeping with comments and proposals made by a joint
interdepartmental commission, has already been installed on the Soyuz
TMA-3 spacecraft that will take a new crew to the International Space
Station [ISS] in the autumn," the first deputy general designer of the
space rocket corporation Energiya, Nikolay Zelenshchikov, said. "The
need for upgrading the control unit emerged after its malfunctioning
during the landing of the Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft last May. The
spacecraft with the Russian-US crew on board made an unauthorized
off-target ballistic descent," he said. The Energiya official said
Soyuz TMA-3 would be used as a lifeboat for the ISS crew for a period
of six months. Currently the spacecraft is being tested at the
corporation's test and control facility. A crew of Aleksandr Kaleri of
Russia and Michael Foale of the United States will leave for the ISS
on 18 October. The third seat will be taken by Pedro Duque of Spain,
who will make a 10-day visiting mission and return to Earth with the
ISS's current crew - Yuriy Malenchenko and Edward Lu. Kaleri and Foale
will work aboard the ISS for six months, to be taken home by the Soyuz
TMA-3.
[ITAR-TASS news agency]

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