U.S. astronaut recalls terrifying Soyuz descent WILD RIDE

Soyuz astronaut recalls terrifying descent

As the crew plunged, Peggy Whitson saw smoke and felt gravity's crushing force

See vintage photos of NASA.... Peggy Whitson was aboard the Russian Soyuz capsule last month. See vintage photos of NASA.... Peggy Whitson was aboard the Russian Soyuz capsule last month. Photo: JOHNNY HANSON, CHRONICLE Photo: JOHNNY HANSON, CHRONICLE Image 1 of / 29 Caption Close U.S. astronaut recalls terrifying Soyuz descent 1 / 29 Back to Gallery

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article first appeared in the Houston Chronicle in 2008

The 400,000-foot plunge lasted about 23 minutes. It seemed longer.

American Peggy Whitson can't recall whether she was right-side-up or upside-down in the Russian Soyuz capsule as it dived violently through the atmosphere, smoke wafting from the controls, communication lost with the ground.

What the 48-year-old astronaut recalls are the waves of nausea that engulfed her as the Soyuz neared the Earth's surface. And the crushing force of gravity — eight times normal — that lasted, she said Friday, for about 60 seconds.

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The capsule fell until the lower atmosphere slowed it down, with the friction causing the vehicle to glow red-hot as outside temperatures soared several thousand degrees.

Finally, the first of four parachutes deployed. As the craft closed on the surface — about three feet from it — small rockets fired in an attempt to cushion the impact.

But it was a rough landing on the central Asian plains of Kazakhstan, about 300 miles from the target area, Whitson said at Johnson Space Center, like a rolling car crash.

"It was just one big hit and a roll," she told a CNN reporter.

A crew mate, Russian Yuri Malenchenko, crawled from the damaged spacecraft and contacted controllers with a satellite phone, stored in the capsule for just such an emergency.

Whitson and South Korean So-yeon Yi were pulled from the spaceship by Kazakhs who had witnessed the smoldering descent and had raced toward it in trucks. They spoke little Russian and no English.

The Russians have begun an investigation into the causes of the Soyuz's steep descent at an angle of more than 30 degrees, an approach known as a ballistic re-entry. NASA is monitoring the inquiry.

At the time of the landing, the Russian Interfax press agency, quoting unnamed officials, said the crew was in mortal danger. Since then, however, the Russians have downplayed the danger to the crew.

New record for U.S.

Russian Federal Space Agency spokesman Alexander Vorobyov has been quoted as saying the landing was classified as a "3" on a 5-point scale of seriousness.

"I don't think I can say accurately what the risk was," Whitson said Friday. "I guess the old pilot saying that any landing you can walk away from is a good one probably applies here."

The dramatic re-entry marked the end of a six-month mission to the international space station by Whitson, who became the first woman to command the orbital science lab.

She also returned to Earth as the new U.S. record holder for time accumulated in space: 377 days over two missions.

The wild ride back to Earth did not come as a complete surprise to the space veteran. The same steep descent was experienced in October by two Russians and a Malaysian. They, too, were not injured.

"We were pretty sure that was happening to us," said Whitson, a guess confirmed by instruments that measure the forces of gravity, or G-forces.

During a normal Soyuz descent, the G-forces typically do not exceed 4.5 Gs. Space shuttle crews experience about 3 Gs when they glide to a landing.

Whitson and Malenchenko had rehearsed the ballistic descent in a Russian centrifuge as part of their training before they flew into space aboard the same Soyuz on Oct. 10. But neither were prepared for the additional discomfort of 8 Gs pressing against their chests after six months of weightlessness.

"I felt my face getting pulled back. It was hard to breathe, and you kind of have to breathe through your stomach, using your diaphragm instead of expanding your chest," said Whitson.

She said she has been asked whether she was scared. "We didn't have time," she said.

She was seated to one side of Malenchenko, and Yi to the other. "I could not see Yuri's face," she said, "only his knees. So-yeon, I could not see her either. But we did have communication with each other. We could talk about what was going on. What we needed to do next."

The three-seat Soyuz capsule became a mainstay of Soviet spaceflight in 1967.

One of the disposable spacecrafts is launched to the American-led space station every six months to serve as a lifeboat for the crew. The flight rate is expected to double next year, when the number of astronauts living on the station expands from three to six.

Growing dependency

NASA is scheduled to retire the shuttle in two years. Until the space agency launches the next manned space vehicle in about 2015, the Soyuz will be the only means of transporting astronauts to the space station.

The Russian inquiry could be complete by the end of May, NASA officials said.

"I have no doubt we will get the best investigation possible," said Mike Suffredini, NASA's space station program manager."I think the best minds in Russia are working on this."

The next launching of a Soyuz with an American on board is not planned until October. American Garrett Reisman, who flew to the orbital outpost in March, is scheduled to return to Earth in June aboard the shuttle Discovery.

American Greg Chamitoff, who is scheduled to follow Reisman to the station, expressed confidence in Russian craft's capabilities to serve as a lifeboat.

"Obviously, I have followed this very closely," said Chamitoff. "I'm sure there will be more analysis coming from Russia.

"I'm still very comfortable being up there with (a Soyuz) as a rescue vehicle."

mark.carreau@chron.com