{"id":14933,"date":"2017-01-17T22:59:27","date_gmt":"2017-01-17T14:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/launch-failure-probe-prompts-engine-swap-on-soyuz-crews-rocket\/"},"modified":"2017-01-17T22:59:27","modified_gmt":"2017-01-17T14:59:27","slug":"launch-failure-probe-prompts-engine-swap-on-soyuz-crews-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/launch-failure-probe-prompts-engine-swap-on-soyuz-crews-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"Launch failure probe prompts engine swap on Soyuz crew\u2019s rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"
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File photo of a Soyuz rocket\u2019s RD-0110 engine. Credit: Energia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Russian engineers will replace rocket engines on two Soyuz rockets assigned to send a batch of supplies and the next crew to the International Space Station after an investigation revealed foreign objects or a manufacturing defect led to the crash of a Progress cargo craft on launch in December, according to Russian media reports and a statement from the Russian space agency.<\/p>\n

Nearly 5,400 pounds of cargo, provisions, tools and a Russian Orlan spacesuit were lost on the Progress MS-04 supply freighter when it crashed in Siberia shortly after a Dec. 1 launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n

Russian controllers lost contact with the unpiloted spacecraft around six minutes after launch, when its Soyuz rocket was still firing to propel the Progress cargo ship into orbit.<\/p>\n

A Russian-led investigation, conducted with the assistance of NASA experts, determined the Progress MS-04 spacecraft and the Soyuz-U rocket\u2019s third stage had an \u201coff-nominal separation\u201d more than two minutes before the two vehicles were supposed to enter orbit and part ways.<\/p>\n

The sudden mishap involved the rupture of the third stage\u2019s liquid oxygen tank and a fire inside the stage\u2019s RD-0110 engine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most likely cause of the contingency was the third stage liquid oxygen tank opening as a result of exposure of (RD-0110) engine destruction elements that occurred (as a) result of fire, and further destruction of the oxidizer compound pump,\u201d the Russian space agency, or Roscosmos, said in a Jan. 11 statement.<\/p>\n

The oxidizer pump fire could have been caused by the introduction of foreign object debris into the pump cavity, or a violation of engine assembly procedures, Roscosmos said.<\/p>\n

The failure was the fourth time in 25 months that a supply ship heading for the space station has fallen short of the complex, and the second Soyuz\/Progress launch failure since April 2015.<\/p>\n

The next Soyuz launch with a Progress cargo mission was delayed from Feb. 2 to no earlier than Feb. 21 in the wake of the accident.<\/p>\n

Citing a statement from the Roscosmos press office, Russia\u2019s Tass news agency reported Tuesday that the RD-0110 third stage engines on the next two Soyuz launches in support of the space station will be replaced. Technicians will install similar RD-0110 engines from different manufacturing lots on the Soyuz-U and Soyuz-FG boosters slated to launch the Progress MS-05 cargo mission next month and the Soyuz MS-04 spaceship in March.<\/p>\n

Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and NASA astronaut Jack Fischer will ride in the Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft to begin up to a half-year residency on the space station.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

File photo of a Soyuz rocket\u2019s RD-0110 engine. Credit: Energia Russian engineers will replace rocket engines on two Soyuz rockets assigned to send a batch of supplies and the next crew to the International Space Station after an investigation revealed foreign objects or a manufacturing defect led to the crash of a Progress cargo craft […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1601,1545,717,1602,513,3460,3461,3400],"class_list":["post-14933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-baikonur-cosmodrome","tag-human-spaceflight","tag-international-space-station","tag-iss-cargo","tag-progress","tag-progress-65p","tag-progress-ms-04","tag-progress-ms-05"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14933\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}