Progress supply ship crash

[brian577]

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science...nch/50123004/1

We grounded the shuttles for this?

[Robert Maxwell]

Some commentary would be nice in an opening post.

[Marc]

brian577 wrote:

---

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science...nch/50123004/1

We grounded the shuttles for this?

No that shuttles were grounded because of their age and the cost of maintaining them.

In on another board, some-one made the comment about the russians having four failures in 9 months.

Now when was the last time the U.S was able to attempt four launches in 9 months?

[Wanderlust]

Yea, a progress craft. You cant be perfect. This is the first progress failure since they have been flying to the ISS.

Russian space program has been very good to us, remember we are in a team here.

[Dukhat]

ExplorerAtHeart wrote:

---

Yea, a progress craft. You cant be perfect. This is the first progress failure since they have been flying to the ISS.

And considering there hasn't been a manned Soyuz fatality in exactly 40 years (and the only two fatalities had nothing to do with the launch vehicle), I'd say the Russians' record is damn near perfect.

Russian space program has been very good to us, remember we are in a team here.

Yep. For the next two years at least. Das Vidaniya!

[YellowSubmarine]

Awesome! Another step forward for the Dragon!

Seriously though, even with the failure I wouldn't say anything against Soyuz or Progress. They are still cheaper and more efficient than the shuttle, they are definitely the better choice. Their failure rates are comparable, both have had two fatal manned missions IIRC, and this is the first failed launch of a Progress spacecraft. Nothing to worry about – this just shows that space flight is still a difficult endeavour.

Edit: And as Dukhat pointed out, these two Soyuz fatal failures were decades ago, recent Soyuz fatality rate is practically zero, and “failure to reach” orbit would have been non-fatal if this was a manned mission. This makes Soyuz safer than the shuttle.