NASAWatch on Deutsche Welle: DEMO-2 Splashdown

1. The last time NASA astronauts did a Splashdown was July 24, 1975. Cue the Disco Music?

   1. The upcoming SpaceX missions will have some milestones also, as Soichi Noguchi on Crew-1 will become the first JAXA astronaut to do a splashdown, and Thomas Pesquet on Crew-2 will be the first ESA astronaut to do so. And on Crew-1 Shannon Walker will become the first female astronaut of any country to do a splashdown.

      Joining of course Soviet cosmonauts Vyacheslav Zudov and Valery Rozhdestvensky who came down in a lake in October 1976.

   2. And that crew had SERIOUS trouble with their hypergolic propellants during entry.

      1. I remember reading about that and thinking yeow, imagine if the last Apollo mission ended in a fatality especially as it carried the 7th original astronaut on his first spaceflight.

         Along with some “close” unauthorized boaters, looks like some new lessons learned for water landings.

      2. Bob- Thanks for the reminder – you’re taking about Apollo-Soyuz, correct? Here’s something from NASA*:

         During the welcoming ceremony, it became apparent that they were not feeling well, and it was then that the astronauts revealed that they had inhaled some nitrogen tetroxide propellant during the descent. Normally, the crew would have turned off the CM’s thrusters once descending on the parachutes but that was not done and the gas had been drawn into the cabin through a valve normally open to allow fresh air to enter. All further ceremonies were cancelled and the crew taken to the ship’s sick bay.

         If I picture this correctly, there was some remaining nitrogen tetroxide remaining. I suppose oxidizer remained while the thrusters ran out of sufficient fuel, leading the crew to perhaps figure it wasn’t necessary?

         The command module had RCS all over the place, including two quite near the apex of the capsule. I wasn’t able to locate the fresh air ports.

         In any case very small amounts of nitrogen tetroxide are very toxic.

         * https://www.nasa.gov/featur…

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