Russian supply ship for space station crashes

That's probably not a message you'd want to get if you were in the Space Station now....

So the Russians will pay to replace the supplies? Being serious what would happen in a manned flight? Can the Soyuz separate in time to flip around in time for reentry? Can the Soyuz service module engine get it in orbit?

Russians had payed by crashing the ship!

So the Russians will pay to replace the supplies?

These launches are insured. I know an insurance company somewhere is pretty peeved right now.

Having private contractors to do the job in the future is I think a bad idea. Can really see how cheaper it would become without competition.

Well, I hope that the US astronauts that will be riding up there on Soyuz craft are ready for a wild ride. Before the replies come, I realize that NASA has had its share of rocket accidents, but we always had a back-up plan. Right now, we don't have one to get the people supplied on the space station or off. I am sure the astronauts all know the risks of what can happen, but I imagine that if they were going to take those chances, they probably would rather bet on odds for an American craft than a Russian.

they probably would rather bet on odds for an American craft than a Russian.

"It was the 44th launch of a Progress supply ship to the space station, and the first failure in the nearly 13-year life of the complex."

I'd stick with the Russians.

"It was the 44th launch of a Progress supply ship to the space station, and the first failure in the nearly 13-year life of the complex."

I'd stick with the Russians.

NASA Shutle Program: 135 missions, 2 losses, 30 year history. I'd still stick with NASA. Also note, it is the first accident at that complex, in 13 years. How many accidents have happened at their previous launch facility?

Hmm, lets see one unmanned ship lost vs 14 people in 2 accidents.

Alphaape, pls repeat your post to the families of lost ones in person aka face to face.

Hmm, lets see one unmanned ship lost vs 14 people in 2 accidents.

Well to be fair we should include the Mexicans: Zero accidents and zero people killed. Can't beat that safety record.

Alphaape, pls repeat your post to the families of lost ones in person aka face to face.

@It's ME: Not trying to make light of the 14 deaths that NASA has had with the shuttle program or the other deaths that they have had from other mishaps. What I was pointing out is that we currently have no way to get up to the station to get supplies up. Remember both those shuttle disasters, afterwards NASA had huge standdowns and was able to determine the cause of the crashes with pretty accurate results.

I hope that the Russian agency will do the same, and just "white wash it" in order to not face worldwide scrutiny. This is just the disaster they have told us. I am sure that there have been a lot more rocket malfunctions that we have not heard about with the Russians. At least with NASA, you sort of know what you are getting into with them.

"It was the 44th launch of a Progress supply ship to the space station, and the first failure in the nearly 13-year life of the complex." This facility is built on the remains of the original Baikonur Cosmodrome which was completely obliterated in the 1960 Nedelin Catastrophe. The unofficial death toll was near 150 including Marshall Nedelin himself. The Soviets have had numerous space disasters including the first casualty in space. The other Russian Cosmodrome at Plesetsk was nearly destroyed in 1980 when a Vostok rocket blew up and killed 48. None of these events were acknowledged until after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989. This is the 3rd Russian space accident since December that has been acknowledged. There was a supposedly failed submarine launch test of an ICBM in December of 2009 which was never acknowledged by the Russians, although videos of the event over Norway were widely publicized at the time.

The Russians can leave the space station, just get into their Soyuz and depart. Leaving 2 Americans and a Japanese person. The Americans are more to blame for giving up their shuttle before their replacement is ready. There is always the unexpected, though perhaps the Americans can do a "crash" program to ready one of more shuttles. FYI I do not expect the Russians just to leave. They are better people than that!