ISS cosmonauts extract Soyuz explosive bolt

[Rick]

Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Sergei Volkov yesterday ventured outside the International Space Station to remove an explosive bolt from the Soyuz TMA-12 spacecraft amid suspicions that faulty pyro fittings may have been responsible for two ballistic re-entries into Earth's atmosphere.

Russian scientists reckon that dodgy bolts previously delayed separation of the Soyuz crew module from an equipment compartment prior to re-entry, something which in October 2007 and April this year treated passengers to high-speed returns to Earth some way from the intended landing sites.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/11/soyuz_bolt/

[Rick]

Russian cosmonauts have completed a spacewalk to remove an explosive bolt from a Soyuz capsule attached to the International Space Station (ISS).

Officials believe the recent off-target returns to Earth made by Soyuz craft could have been the result of faulty pyrobolts on the vehicles.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7502047.stm

[Ian]

how did they remove it? I vote for hitting it repeatedly with a hammer...

[Rick]

Very very carefully, I expect.    I wonder what the risk assessment for that space walk looked like...

[Ian]

but they were cosmonauts, I would imagine the risk assessment was perhaps a little shorter.

Of course, my whole understanding of cosmonauts is based on the film Armageddon.

[Rick]

International Space Station crew members Oleg Kononenko and Sergei Volkov yesterday carried out a five-hour, 54-minute spacewalk (see pic) to install a docking target on the station's Zvezda service module as part of a programme to expand the station's parking capacity.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/16/iss_parking/

[Rick]

Russian engineers believe they have rectified snags which have seen Soyuz spacecraft returning from orbit take up dangerous "ballistic" trajectories recently. The Soyuz is likely to be the only craft capable of carrying humans into space for the first half of the next decade.

Aviation Week reports that NASA associate administrator William Gerstenmaier, has been briefed on the Soyuz' recent problems in Moscow. The Russians said that the "most probable cause" of the re-entry difficulties was a degraded initiation wire on a particular explosive bolt securing the crew compartment to the service module. These components are supposed to separate during re-entry.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/23/nasa_says_soyuz_all_fixed_now/