In NASA they were scared for the ISS after the accident of "Progress". Roscosmos has so far called only the reasons for the loss of the Express satellite

Roscosmos is working simultaneously on the investigation of two major accidents: with the Progress M-12M truck and the Express-AM4 satellite. Due to the collapse of "Progress", the American aerospace agency NASA fears that the International Space Station runs the risk of being left without astronauts. In this case, you will have to manage the ISS operation in unmanned mode, which will increase the likelihood of breakdowns and accidents, reports Associated Press. Meanwhile, Roskosmos still cannot establish the causes of the accident, but the special commission figured out why the Express fell into an unlimited orbit, and the guilty was found.

The fact that the crew may leave the ISS if Russia does not resume the launches of the Soyuz manned ships, said the head of the ISS program in NASA Michael Suffredini. He expressed concern about the security when the crew returned in the capsules of the Soyuz in the middle of winter, in connection with which, according to him, the ISS can be left in an autonomous flight, RIA Novosti reports.

- Roscosmos postponed the return and launch of a new expedition to the ISS

"If we do not see the Soyuz ship, we will probably resort to the unmanned regime before the end of the year," Suffredini said, making it clear that astronauts can leave the ISS in November. Thus, the station can be left without astronauts for the first time since 2000.

At the same time, Suffredini noted that Russian astronauts will be able to help their American colleague at the ISS with the docking of the first commercial spacecraft Dragon, if due to shifts of the schedule by the end of November, when it is planned to launch the ship, there will be no “planned” crew at the station.

For docking Dragon with the ISS, two NASA astronauts are needed, underwent special training. Initially, by the time the docking was planned, American astronauts Daniel Berbank and Donald Petit were supposed to be on board the station.

At the same time, as the representative of NASA noted, Russian cosmonauts Anton Klokaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, who will go to the station with Berbank, also underwent the necessary training. “We can“ pull up ”our colleagues to the required level, and the team on Earth will help them all,” said Suffredini.

Roscosmos postponed the return and launch of a new expedition to the ISS

The return of three of the six members of the ISS crew on the Soyuz TMA-21 man-made ship is tentatively transferred from September 8 to 16, the head of the Department of manned programs of Roscosmos, Alexei Krasnov, said on the eve. At the "TMA-21 Union", Russian astronauts Andrei Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyev, as well as NASA astronaut Ronald Guarantee, should return to Earth.

He also said that the second three of the ISS crew, which is currently working at the station - the cosmonaut Roscosmos Sergey Volkov, the NASA astronaut Michael Fossum and the astronaut of the Japanese space agency of JAXA Satoshi Furukava, should return to Earth until the end of November. “We would like to land until the last decade of November,” Krasnov said.

The launch of a new expedition on the ISS on the Ship "Union TMA -22" is also transferred by decision of Roscosmos, namely from September 22 to late October - early November. Previously, the main and duplicate crews of the new expedition to the ISS were recognized as suitable for flight. The main crew included the cosmonauts of Roscosmos Anton Cabberry and Anatoly Ivanishin, as well as the NASA astronaut Daniel Berman, their understudy - cosmonauts of Roscosmos Gennady Padalka and Sergey Revin, NASA astronaut Joseph Akaba.

According to Krasnov, Roskosmos before sending a new crew to the ISS will hold two unspied launching of Soyuz launch vehicles. “I think that we will first make one or two unmanned launches - either it is an automatic machine or a truck (“ M -13M progress ”), either both, and then there will already be a manned launch,” the head of the department said.

The importance of the fact that two test flights will be made before the manned launch, NASA representative Michael Suffredini also noted. “Our Russian partners have other Soyuz launch vehicles that they are going to send to the ISS. In early October, it is planned to make a commercial launch. In addition, we are considering the possibility of transferring“ progress-45 ”from the end of November to mid-October if we manage to accelerate preparatory work for it,” ITAR-TASS quoted him.

The Head of the Department of manned programs of Roscosmos, Alexei Krasnov, explained that the launch vehicle that derived the fallen “progress” will be launched “twice to the manned launch to confirm the correctness of our conclusions to search and parry the malfunction, which led to the unsuccessful launch of“ M-12M progress ”.

Roscosmos established a breakdown that led to an accident, but did not find its reasons

The commission for the investigation of the causes of the emergency launch of the M-12M progress cargo spacecraft has not yet been able to establish the cause of the emergency operation of the 3rd stage of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle , which led to the fall of the cargo ship, a source in the commission told Interfax .

He noted that among the most likely versions a violation in the supply of fuel, an emergency operation of automation are considered. "Now there is an analysis of many possible versions, mathematical modeling is carried out, experiments are performed. Our task is to determine the exact reason so that there can be clear recommendations to missile manufacturers and engineers," the agency’s interlocutor explained.

"Today (August 30) the head of the commission Academician Koroteev (CEO of the Keldysh Research Center Anatoly Koroteev) fly to Voronezh, where tomorrow (August 31) the next meeting of the commission will be held," the agency’s interlocutor said. He recalled that the engine of the third stage of the Soyuz-U launch vehicle, whose start ended in emergency, was developed in the KB Himavtomatika (Voronezh) and is seriously produced at the Voronezh Mechanical Plant (VMZ).

A senior source of Kommersant in the leadership of the VMZ noted that the investigation of the causes of the accident was complicated by the fact that there was actually no emergency materiel - "wreckage of rockets that have not yet been found." However, he admitted that the version of the fuel supply deficiency to the gas generator of the RD-0110 engine is the main one.

In this regard, according to him, the enterprise see several possible results of the investigation: “with a“ soft ”version, the plant will be obliged to prove the quality of its products with a new engine model, in the“ hard ” - a decision will be made to complete the production of the RD -0110 engine.” At the same time, the interlocutor did not exclude that the KBHA that developed the engine, and the manufacturer - VMZ will be imposed on the development of "possible, even a fundamentally new engine."

Roscosmos found the reason for the unsuccessful launch "Express-am4": someone was mistaken in the calculations

The unsuccessful launch of the Express-AM4 spacecraft, which was brought into an unleasable orbit on August 18, was caused by an error in programming the work of the Breez-M accelerated unit system. The commission came to the conclusion that it was unreasonably “narrowed” by the temporary interval of the gyrostabilized platform of the acceleration block, the press service of Roskosmos reports.

Ultimately, this led to the incorrect orientation of the Breeze-M RB and, as a result, to bring the spacecraft into non-calculated orbit. According to the agency, the rest of the acceleration unit systems worked without comments.

Based on the results of the commission, a ban was lifted from the preparation of the Proton-M launch vehicle from the Breez-M accelerated unit and the necessary recommendations were prepared for the implementation of the next launches. "The head of Roscosmos is instructed to clarify the schedule of spacecraft launches using Proton launch vehicles for the remaining four months of 2011," the press service said.

At the same time, in accordance with the instructions of the head of the Federal Space Agency, an administrative investigation of the degree of guilt of the officials of Roscosmos, the GKNPC named after M.V. Khrunicheva, FSUE MOKB "Mars" and TsNIIMASH. PN "Proton-M", RB "Breez-M" and the spacecraft "Express-am4" were produced at the State Customs and Technical Council.