Canon EOS 5D Mark II
ƒ/2.8
50 mm
1/100
1000

Scorched from reentry, this is the external heat shield for the attitude control thrusters from the landing capsule of the inaugural flight of the Soyuz TMA spacecraft.

A technical malfunction caused the Soyuz control system to abandon the gentler aerodynamic reenrty and instead it reverted to a harsher ballistic free-fall descent. This resulted in a steep and off target landing of the spacecraft. The craft landed 300 miles short of the planned area, and the crew was subjected to severe gravitational loads.

Communication with the Soyuz was lost because one antenna was ripped off during descent, and two more did not deploy. The crew regained communications through an emergency transmitter after landing. (from Wikipedia)

This panel was removed after landing. Engineers analyzed the failure in the flight control system and found that a failure in the avionics caused the free-fall descent, not pilot error as initially claimed. “The small attitude control thrusters onboard the capsule functioned properly, however in accordance with the computer commands, they provided attitude for ballistic reentry rather than aerodynamic mode. All tests conducted on the ground failed to reproduce the phenomena encountered during the landing of the Soyuz TMA-1.” (RussianSpaceWeb)

Update: As I recently learned from an astronaut involved with the mission (see below), the thrusters of this panel were used to spin up the capsule for a ballistic reentry.

6 responses to “Flown Soyuz TMA-1 Thruster Panel”

  1. The inner shell is fiberglass over a composite of ebonite, carbon fiber and glass:
    IMG_5350

    You can see the panel in the Soyuz Crew Operations Manual (SoyCOM) (ROP-19), Yu.A. Gagarin Cosmonaut’s Training Center, June 1999, p.132.
    Diagram from Soyuz Manual

    K2 and K2Д are roll control thrusters, T1 and T2 are for pitch, and P1 and P2 are for yaw.

    “Each УРМД thruster includes an Electro-Hydraulic Control Valve, reactor and nozzle. The Hydrogen peroxide enters the catalyst reactor where the peroxide decomposition reaction is realized producing gaseous oxygen and water vapor. The decomposition products are exhausted through the jet generating the thrust.”

    Looking closer at the composite
    panel close up

    And this is what the scorched panel looks like from the outside
    Soyuz Side Panels

  2. … crew was subjected to severe gravitational loads

    Doncha just love that official phrasing? It landed with a helluva bump is what it’s trying to say I think.

  3. Another addition to your collection:)

  4. I love the bad tack welds on the stand!

    Very interesting bit of history attached to the panel.

    When I saw the thumbnail, oi thought this was going to be guess what. Bose prototype speaker ports would have been my guess.

  5. At a recent B612 event at DFJ, astronaut Ed Lu saw this panel, and remembered sending them off from the ISS:

    "I looked through my photos and I found this picture I took of Soyuz TMA-1 as it pulled away after undocking. If you look on the left hand side you can see my hand and the camera lens reflected in the porthole window. We normally went to an inertial attitude hold before undocking, so unfortunately the Sun is almost in the window making the photo less than ideal, but that’s how it goes sometimes. About 2 hours after this photo was taken, Soyuz TMA-1 (with Expedition 6 onboard) had the sensor failure that forced a downmode to ballistic entry. The thruster panel you have was used to spin up the Soyuz to gyro-stabilize the vehicle (rifle bullet style) so it could make an unguided reentry."

    Vzor Ed lUEd Lu’s photo, close up:Vzor Ed Lu CloseupAnd here is the recovery beacon antenna cover from the same mission: Flying SaucerBoth of these artifacts were associated with anomalous events during the mission.

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