Soyuz
A manned Soyuz spacecraft set a record for traveling to the International Space Station (ISS), arriving six hours after launch instead of the usual two days. Soyuz 34 lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday, March 28 at 4:43 p.m. EDT (08:43 GMT) and docked with the ISS at 10: 28 PM EDT (03:28 GMT). It was able to catch up and match trajectories with the ISS in only four orbits using new techniques previously tested in ISS rendezvouses with Russian unmanned Progress cargo ships. Read More
The nearest escape from certain death in history!
January 19, 2009 Forty years ago this week saw one of the most spectacular escapes from certain death in recorded history. Soviet Commander Boris Volynov was returning to earth in Soyuz 5 when the service module failed to separate and he found himself entering the earth’s atmosphere with an inverted craft and the heat shields facing backwards. He was just moments from incineration when the service module sheared and the craft resumed the correct orientation. The heat damage was extensive though, and the descent parachute only partially deployed, then the chute-mounted soft-landing rockets failed, and it landed so hard Volynov smashed teeth. Crawling out of the craft, he found himself in minus 38 C temperatures in wilderness, hundreds of kilometres outside his landing zone, so he walked until finding a peasant hut. Volynov is also a contender for the most frightening case of déjà vu in history – seven years later, while flying Soyuz 21 … Read More
November 8, 2004 What do you do when you find a Soyuz parachute from a mission to the space station? If you're Everquest Design Inc. of Canada, you transform them into unique, designer bags and sell them on eBay! Everquest Design specialise in unique, limited edition bags with authentic parachutes from Space Station missions, America's Cup sails, Mount Everest Expeditions and more. The Soyuz bags are a simple, unique "piece of adventure" all the way from outer space to your shoulder. Read More
