On board the ship is an international crew: the Russian hero Oleg Novitsky, the first Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya and the American Tracy Dyson.
As is known, its launch was supposed to take place on March 21, but literally 20 seconds before the rocket took off, the automation canceled the flight. According to Roscosmos General Director Yuri Borisov, the cause was a voltage drop in the chemical current source.
The launch has been postponed to a reserved date. This made adjustments to the schedule: instead of the initially planned ultra-short scheme of just over three hours, i.e. two orbits, the team will now fly to the ISS for fifty and a half hours. Ballistics dictate!
Experts explain: the key parameter that influences the possibility of coupling to the station is the phase angle. The spacecraft and the ISS must be at a certain angle at the time of launch. The shorter the flight time, the smaller the phase range. For comparison: the phase range of a two-day circuit is 150 degrees, a four-lap circuit is 22, and a two-lap circuit is 6.
With a two-lap circuit, all calculations are done beforehand. If there is a delay, you will have to fly on a two-day schedule. During this time, the spacecraft needs to rise from its lower trajectory into the station’s orbit and begin to approach. The ISS is moving at its own speed all this time. Therefore, the Mission Control Center carries out special orbital calculations and issues maneuvers that allow the device to finally “catch up” to the ISS.
The ship is expected to dock at the station on Monday at 18:10 Moscow time.
The two-day flight pattern is traditional. Ships began flying along it in 1986 after the launch of the Mir station. And this continued until 2013. This is the so-called long scheme.
What do astronauts experience on a trip like this? This is what the hero of Russia, cosmonaut pilot and scientist Yuri Baturin said in the book “The Everyday Life of Russian Cosmonauts.” He, the world’s 382nd cosmonaut and Russia’s 90th cosmonaut, had the opportunity to work in orbit twice: on the Mir station and on the ISS.
During the first two orbits around the Earth, crew members check the tightness of the compartments and the readiness of the ship’s systems. They need to control the opening of the solar panels. After two orbits, the astronauts are given permission to go to the living quarters and remove their spacesuits.
In general, weightlessness will need to get used to on the first day; even the strongest body needs to adapt. And on the second day, a responsible operation will take place: the meeting and docking with the space station.
“Yes, we have a two-day plan. But, to be honest, everything that is done is for the better. I am already convinced of that. And for me it will be a great experience. We will spend two days on the ship, and we will have more time “To adapt to weightlessness, we will have more time to look at our beautiful Earth. When we arrive at the station, I am sure we will feel good,” said Marina Vasilevskaya, a participant in the Belarusian space flight, before the second successful launch.
By the way, for the first time in the history of astronautics, Soyuz TMA-08M flew on a short route, after about 6 hours. And this event was, frankly speaking, a milestone. There were enough worries then. It is no coincidence that the first express flight was assigned to a crew with one of the most experienced commanders of the time – Pavel Vinogradov.
In October 2020, Soyuz MS-17 set the flight speed record to the ISS: it reached the station in a record time of 3 hours and 3 minutes. This was the first time.
Who else flew quickly into orbit?
In 1968, just 46 minutes after launch, the unmanned Soyuz (Cosmos-213) docked with another spacecraft, Cosmos-212, which had been launched into orbit a day earlier.
In the practice of manned flights, the record set by the crew of the American Gemini 11 spacecraft, which docked with the Agena rocket just 1 hour and 34 minutes after launch, remains unsurpassed.
Georgy Beregovoi could break this record: already in the first orbit, his Soyuz-3 spacecraft approached the unmanned Soyuz-2. However, due to errors in manual control, the docking failed.
