Crew Dragon Launches Safely, Carrying First Russian From US Soil In 20 Years (arstechnica.com) 39
Ars Technica's Eric Berger writes: Four days before Thanksgiving in 2002, space shuttle Endeavour lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Among the seven crew members to the International Space Station was one Russian cosmonaut, Nikolai M. Budarin, making his third spaceflight. By then, as part of warming relations between Russia and the United States, cosmonauts had been flying on board the space shuttle for nearly a decade. The exchange program would have continued, but tragedy struck on the shuttle's next mission, which launched in January 2003. Space Shuttle Columbia was lost upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board.
Following this disaster, no more Russians would fly on the space shuttle after it returned to service. Instead, NASA focused on flying the minimum number of missions needed to complete the construction of the International Space Station. After the shuttle's retirement in 2011, NASA would come to rely on Russia's Soyuz vehicle as its only ride to space. NASA regained the capacity to launch its own astronauts into space in 2020, after working with SpaceX to complete the development of the Crew Dragon vehicle. Following a successful demonstration flight in May 2020 with two astronauts on board, Crew Dragon safely launched six additional times, carrying an additional two dozen people into space.
On Wednesday, Crew Dragon carried astronauts into space for an eighth time, with the fifth operational mission for NASA. This Crew-5 flight was commanded by Nicole Mann, a NASA astronaut making her first flight into space. "Whooo, that was a smooth ride uphill!" she exclaimed upon reaching orbit. Among the four Dragon riders was a cosmonaut, Anna Kikina, also making her debut flight into space. She is just the sixth Russian or Soviet female cosmonaut in the history of the program since Valentina Tereshkova flew into orbit on June 16, 1963. Kikina is also the first Russian to launch into space from the United States since Budarin, two decades ago. In addition to Mann and Kikina, Crew-5 is rounded out by NASA astronaut Josh Cassada and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. While the other three are rookies, this is Wakata's fifth spaceflight. During their stay aboard the International Space Station, the astronauts will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations, including studies on printing human organs in space.
Following this disaster, no more Russians would fly on the space shuttle after it returned to service. Instead, NASA focused on flying the minimum number of missions needed to complete the construction of the International Space Station. After the shuttle's retirement in 2011, NASA would come to rely on Russia's Soyuz vehicle as its only ride to space. NASA regained the capacity to launch its own astronauts into space in 2020, after working with SpaceX to complete the development of the Crew Dragon vehicle. Following a successful demonstration flight in May 2020 with two astronauts on board, Crew Dragon safely launched six additional times, carrying an additional two dozen people into space.
On Wednesday, Crew Dragon carried astronauts into space for an eighth time, with the fifth operational mission for NASA. This Crew-5 flight was commanded by Nicole Mann, a NASA astronaut making her first flight into space. "Whooo, that was a smooth ride uphill!" she exclaimed upon reaching orbit. Among the four Dragon riders was a cosmonaut, Anna Kikina, also making her debut flight into space. She is just the sixth Russian or Soviet female cosmonaut in the history of the program since Valentina Tereshkova flew into orbit on June 16, 1963. Kikina is also the first Russian to launch into space from the United States since Budarin, two decades ago. In addition to Mann and Kikina, Crew-5 is rounded out by NASA astronaut Josh Cassada and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. While the other three are rookies, this is Wakata's fifth spaceflight. During their stay aboard the International Space Station, the astronauts will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations, including studies on printing human organs in space.
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I believe that they have a Soyuz capsule available for emergency escape purposes as well as the Dragon. If things really take a political turn for the worse, I think each crew member can return onboard their own nations capsules.
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You are correct. Nobody can be on ISS without a craft ready to return them if needed. If a Dragon has to undock and move to another part the crew that would use it suits up, gets in, and rides it to the new port because if anything happened when it wasn't attached, they can't get off.
They do stick with whatever craft they came on though. A Russian that came up on Dragon would use the Dragon for escape, not Soyuz. Part of that is Soyuz capsule seats are molded to the cosmonaut, but also the suits are differe
Re: If Putin drags US into a war with Russia... (Score:3)
Re:If Putin drags US into a war with Russia... (Score:5, Insightful)
So let me get this straight. The Russia's invasion into Ukraine in 2014 and again in 2022, to steal land, is not Putin's doing. But some people in Washington are primarily responsible for it?
If that is what you are saying, then I want to ask you the same question you asked me. What planet are you on?
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Or "All the countries except the vast majority of them whose opinions I don't count because I don't like them"
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Uh, no. Russia claims that. And...? Pretty much no one else. Russia attacks because, according to Putin, a whole lot of blah blah blah and then tagging the UN and the USA as directly culpable, and you lap it up and regurgitate it verbatim, claiming it's coming from other countries? And everybody else is deluded?
Reality's tough, bro. Just make up your own.
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So let me get this straight.
start here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re:If Putin drags US into a war with Russia... (Score:5, Insightful)
Putin is responsible for his own actions, full stop. If NATO expansion did anything it wounded his ego. No one was threatening Putin except the concept of frredom and democracy. FSU countries wanted freedom, peace and prosperity for once like the west enjoys, something they never had under the soviet empire or the Russian empire before it.
However, NATO is hardly unified in anything. Nothing short of a nuclear strike on one of them could motivate NATO countries to come together to actually fight Russia in a war and even then I have my doubts, let alone invade Russia?! Certainly Ukraine never threatened Russia militarily before now. What made-up excuses will Putin use on the next invasion of a neighbor?
To say the west is responsible for Putin's invasion is the same as blaming negotiators when a hostage taker kills a hostage saying, "you left me no choice." Let the west be blamed for what the west has done. Putin's responsible the blood that came from his actions.
Re:If Putin drags US into a war with Russia... (Score:4, Interesting)
Absolutely correct, the idea that Russia can genuinely be worried about direct invasion from NATO is very silly. There's no motivation for them to ever take that action. If anything Russia's actions here actually make all those countries that sought out NATO memberships (and they did and people voted for it) seem absolutely correct in doing so. Ukraine is getting invaded, the Baltics are not.
"The West" at this point is just "liberal-democratic-capitalism" and it doesn't need guns or force for countries like Ukraine to want to be a part of it.
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I'm not saying Mearshier is dumb or without insight but the realist view of history and geopolitics hasn't had any real predictive wins since ironically, the fall of the Soviet Union. Anyone interested can see the case presented as well as Mearshimer's response here but I do find his counterargument a bit empty and as one of the authors correctly points out the idea of calling Putin a "first class strategist" was already less than correct in 2014 and is has been looking worse almost immediately after the
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You state that realism has no predictive wins, totally discounting the fact that it predicted the Ukrainian war?
this isn't about realism. "realism" is just their strawman to discredit a point of view they are utterly reluctant to consider and most likely haven't even actually listened to, let alone let sink in. arguing with fanatics is as soul crushing as it is futile.
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If that is what you are saying, then I want to ask you the same question you asked me. What planet are you on? ... Plutin?
Pluto?
Erm
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I"m sure the US would give him sanctuary / asylum, if he wanted it. Especially after the lengths he went to avoid Putin's draft! On the other hand, if irony has any hand, if he tries to leave the ISS in the Soyuz escape capsule, it'll probably land in Ukraine.
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He's not a soldier. He'd still get a ride back to earth and be free to travel home (if he could get a plane ticket). A direct war with Russia would be really short. In a conventional war, Russia would fold in a matter of days. Heck, it may only have a couple of months left against the Ukrainian army. If an an unlimited nuclear war... the astronauts are probably best staying up there as long as possible, as they may return as the only humans on earth.
Re:If Putin drags US into a war with Russia... (Score:4, Insightful)
Quit being so melodramatic. What do you think might happen? Do you think he's going to be some sort of "space castaway"? Of course he'd end up with a ride home, one way or another. Not everyone is so petty...
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I really don't think anyone would be so petty as to leave an astronaut in space, but some might be sufficiently that to give them a hard time on the ground.
Re:If Putin drags US into a war with Russia... (Score:4, Insightful)
Eh...even then...they're just one scientist (or whatever). It's not like they're the only Russian on US soil. Maybe someone would try to create some sort of political kerfuffle...but so what. The OP was trying to imply someone might get marooned in space just so the US could make some sort of political statement...it's not going to happen...it was a stupid comment.
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You won't find any shortage of those here, friend. The real question will always be whether any given comment is stupid on purpose.
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For the record: the cosmonaut is a woman.
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If Putin drags US into a war
Typical thinking of every petty tyrant. "They made me do it!"
We'll go to war. Or not. It'll be up to us and we will have to take full responsibility and/or credit.
Congrats Space-X (Score:4, Interesting)
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When Dragon lifted off, there was a particular camera shot with the new Starship launch tower, still under construction, looming large in the background. You could tell that was not a coincidental shot.
It's a pretty nice trampoline! (Score:2)
Brave guy (Score:2)
What a brave guy to ride an American broomstick into space. Also, I hope all the windows are closed, lest he fall out of one of them.