Andreas in Star City. Credits: Miguel Gonçalves Mendes
Andreas is at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre to sit the last of many exams on the Soyuz spacecraft that will take him to the International Space Station with Aidyn and Sergei.
The three of them will run many simulations of launch, landing and everything in between in a full-size Soyuz mockup and centrifuges to recreate the extreme g-forces they will experience during the real thing.
ESA astronaut André Kuipers training for manual Soyuz reentry.
Yesterday, Andreas simulated a manual Soyuz reentry in a Star City centrifuge. Usually a Soyuz spacecraft returns to Earth from space using its automatic systems. However if anything goes wrong with the automatic pilot, the astronauts can take over. Using a joystick somewhat similar to those found on aircraft, an astronaut can change the aerodynamic lift of the Soyuz capsule and nudge it towards the landing site.
The goal in a manual reentry is to aim for a target site on Earth and land as closely as possible. A major complication are the g-forces that develop under the intense braking during a reentry. In space the Soyuz flies at around 28 800 km/h but this is quickly reduced to zero at landing. Hurtling towards the landing site, the astronaut needs to constantly keep the g-forces in check: go over the limit and they could faint and pass out, not ideal when flying at over ten times the speed of sound on a collision course with our planet.
Computer readout of the exam. Credits: GCTC
For yesterday’s exam Andreas endured 4.6 g and landed 2600 m from the target which is pretty impressive. Astronauts train extensively to keep working under heavy g-forces and Andreas made this video of a previous session in the centrifuge that shows how intense the experience can be.
More exams will follow over the next weeks before a final graduation ceremony and a “fit to fly” given by the Russian state commission.
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