The Accidental Spacecraft Splashdown Which Almost Killed Its Crew
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- čas přidán 15. 05. 2020
- In 1976 Soyuz 23 returned from space after a truncated mission and due to poor luck ended up landing in Lake Tengiz during a snowstorm. The recovery teams were unable to recover the spacecraft for several hours, while the crew were unable to get fresh air into the capsule and risked asphyxiation.
- Věda a technologie
"How many atmospheres can the ship withstand?"
"Well, it was built for space travel, so anywhere between zero and one."
Goddamn i love futurama
You are saying that there is no dynamic air pressure during launch or reentry or landing (with the cushion boosters) that can spike beyond one atmosphere?
@@advorak8529 oh dear
@@advorak8529 bruh, it's a joke, watch futurama
@@advorak8529 it's a Futurama reference to a sinking spaceship. Even then, the Soyuz is protected by a fairing during launch.
That helicopter pilot who brought the boat to the capsule and stayed in -20°C is a true hero! What an amazing thing to do.
Ikr. That part brought tears to my eyes.
I hope he at least got a medal out of this.
Actually, -20C isn't to cold for Russia. Almost every year (especially in the past) there are days with -30C. Don't get me wrong, I still admire everyone involved.
What a hero!
@@user-te7rf8ik7z -30 dry cold is much "warmer" than -20 on a salt water lake, they said there was snow storm, so probably enough of waves (that raise mist) on the lake to make the boating excursion at -20 there feel like -50
[backup parachute deploys accidentally]
Check yo' staging.
He accidentally tapped [spacebar] on impact.
Trying to cut through those parachute chords in those conditions would not have been an easy task. I worked as an engineer for a well known knife manufacturer many years ago and helped to develop a special hook-type blade so that first responders could cut through seatbelts to remove occupants from crashes. Many lives were being lost simply because they weren't able to cut the material with regular knives. BTW, if you ever find yourself in that awful situation, it is much more effective to cut through at a 45° angle than straight across.
Thank you, all those geniouses in the comments, like nobody there thought of cutting the chutes, not even the rightfully reluctant pilot.
@@sergeigontcharenko3476 i dunno bobby, image at 7:25 seems to suggest the chords aren't some something you can cut with a dinky blade
Great tip here my friend. Wish it would be right at the top. Since you dropped one allow me to as well. If you lose all your lug nuts changing a tire. Just pull one lug of each of the other tires. Apply them in a triangle shape. Should get you home not across country.
@@sergeigontcharenko3476
Yeah, my thoughts as well. These chords were probably arm thick, water soaked, and - what's worse - probably under water at waaaay below freezing conditions during a storm. Maybe if they had brought a diver with a suitable torch and a subdued survival instinct, then he could have - maybe - tried to cut it...
@@MeetDannyWilson They cannot have been 'underwater at waaaay below freezing conditions'. The water would have been ice. Just saying. But yes; conditions were not quite optimal.
Should have just clicked the "recover" button
Sorry, this universe has Lagrange points.
:)
@@advorak8529 I laughed way too much
They couldn't, it was bobbing around in the water too much.
@@advorak8529 ouch
Winter: Russia's defense against invasion from land, sea, air, and space.
Or, in the case of a mechanised attacker, spring.
Winter: Finland's defense against invasion by, well, Russia. Lol
And yet the Germans invaded during definitely not winter and we're stalled due to logistical problems, difficulty keeping up with the losses they had sustained, and most critically, lack of sufficient oil forcing start and stop attacks and widespread demechanization.
It may have been winter forcing the Germans to eat the frozen remains of their horses, but it was oil that made them so reliant on horses to begin with.
Bloody hell. Save this for when you think you're having a bad day.
Damn, those Russians played space exploration in hard mode. Launching, landing and rescuing under those circumstanced alone is rocket science.
Also that is one badass support crew! You know you have a good crew when they're willing to risk their own life and even lose a few fingers to make sure you survive.
“What’s a couple of fingers between comrades” is what I want to imagine the pilot would say.
lost a couple of fingers but now there are a couple of dudes that cannot say no to buying him another round. maybe good trade
There was no reasonable way to cut the parachutes?
My thoughts precisely. I can totally see a shortage of volunteers to stick their arm the -20 brine but the diver is obliged to be dressed for the water temperature and also to have a sharp knife.
I was thinking the same. But cutting ropes would probably be too difficult. Especially in this weather. But they should build in a way for releasing the chutes from spacecraft.
@@brocktechnology Well, there was a diver?!
There probably wasn't. I assume that would have been their first thought but they towed the capsule anyways, so cutting wasn't that easy.
im sure it would be reasonable to cut the parachutes designed to withstand very high speed and extreme temperature with a knife. im not sure rescue crew even had knifes
They could make a Russian "Gravity" out of this.
By the way, there's a decent recent russian movie called "Age of th epioneers" about Leonov's first spacewalk.
A tiny bit hollywoody, but i enjoyed it.
The scene at the end of gravity was partially based on situations like this, and Gus Grissoms Liberty Bell 7 - which left him swimming in the Ocean, and the capsule sinking
Watch Salyut 7. Great movie and much more realistic than Gravity.
Hopefully, without fucking Clooney ghosts.
Exactly. This has "edge of your seat" movie plot all over it! Quik! Somebody call Tom Hanks!
Few details to add: local fishers and farmers helped heli landings by burning fires from own wood fences and brought a big boat which was declined by militaries having an order to follow pre-approved plans and methods. Also interesting that the pilot initially tied his standard one-man inflatable boat (!) to capsule next to x-ray altimeter and probably got some Ziverts before crew realized this and recommended from inside to change the spot.
X-ray altimeter?! did such a thing ever exist? Having your altimeter work on radio waves seems a bit more straightforward - radio waves are more bouncy than x-rays... Also, "a couple sieverts" is a lot...
What were "local fishers" fishing in a lake so dead it can't freeze in minus 25C?
@@cbboegh We didint say they were very good fishermen.
@@cbboegh I doubt about having fishermen there, but local people can use boats for transportation at least
@@cbboegh There are no fish in the lake itself, but russian wikipedia says there are a lot in rivers' delta.
Pilot: "I would like you to record your command"
Dyatlov: "Tow the capsule!"
Just a couple of days ago I read Scott Kelly's "Endurance" where he describes Soyuz splashdown training in the Black Sea near Sotchi. They were supposed to not only get out of their pressure suits but also put on their cold temperature gear below the water protective gear to fight of hypothermia in cold waters. Kelly's impression was that this procedure was kinda optimistic given how exhausting even the training in perfect conditions was, not to speak of a scenario where the crew might be weakened by a long duration stay on the ISS. That training was cut short by news prompting immediate return to Sotchi. It was September 11th, 2001.
I also liked the bit about the community ass brush prank.
That’s so funny, I just started reading Endurance yesterday
Real life emergency is a great motivator, you'd easily do things you would never be able to accomplish in a drill.
@@michaelbuckers While I agree, it shouldn't be forgotten how hard it can be on a human body to undergo a Soyuz-style tumbling reentry after several days in zero gravity. Getting the flight suits off and water gear on must have been an absolute PITA.
@@_tyrannus However since at least the wetsuit part had been completed by that unfortunate crew, unweakened by a long space stay; I wonder why they couldn't abandon the disposable capsule and crawl into the boat. After all, that would have been standard procedure on land.
Fascinating story that I have never heard before Scott. Thank you :)
It reminds me of what Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan experienced on the splashdown of Gemini 9. On the TV show “Secret Space Escapes” Stafford says that they hit the water “like a ton of bricks. I literally saw stars”, and Cernan (in his book The Last Man On the Moon) says that they hit the water so hard that they busted a water line that had their remaining drinking water and that he and Stafford at first thought they busted the hull.
That mission certainly goes down in infamy in the history of space flight. #1 has to be Challenger, #2 Apollo 1, #3 Soyuz 11, #4 Columbia, #5 Apollo 13, #6 Gemini 9. Apollo 13 is only #5 because people died on the first 4. What do you think of this list Scott?
So many things have happened between this Soyuz and the one that left the ISS a few days ago. The modern Soyuz is the spacecraft to beat in terms of reliability. Crew Dragon... finally on the horizon. Hundreds of millions will be watching the first launch. Great video, Scott.
Also the crew survived because they rationed the remaining air inside the capsule. Due to military training they knew how to recognize the effects of CO2 poisoning, waited til they saw blue rings in their vision , indicating the start of asphyxiation, then would release some oxygen. Apparently they did this the whole night.
Holy crap, what a nightmare of a situation for the cosmonauts. Well done to the rescue team.
Reminds me of that Futurama episode where they crash in the ocean.
"How much pressure can the ship take?"
"Well, it's a space ship so it's made for anything from zero to 1"
Or something like that.
Fascinating! Never knew of this event until now. Thanks for sharing! 👍🏻😎
What’s really amazing is that I studied Architecture under a scholarship in the USSR. Started September 1981 and finished 1986....and I never heard about this incident, despite taking a very keen interest in the Soviet Space Program and buying lots of RUSSIAN literature about it.
Shocking eye opener!
Yet another case where it would have been nice to have the ability to detatch parachutes from the inside.
Make damn sure you couldn't do it accidentally though!
For their efforts, the helicopter pilot and others were awarded with various high decorations of the Soviet Union such as the Order of Lenin and others. I have heard that the pilot was once again decorated after the fall of the Soviet Union with the "For Space Exploration" medal by the Russian Federation.
1:04 : "It would be a return to the space station which had been abandoned by the crew of Soyuz 21 in an emergency where the atmosphere had got contaminated"
Soooo... will you be making a video on that? Because you sure piked my curiosity there!
"piqued my interest" is the saying. But yeah. How was the atmosphere contaminated? Blins and vodka caused too much flatulence, or was it an actual malfunction of something? :p
He already has a video about that.
@@johnellis8401 I thought I remembered watching that. Was it the incident in which there was some kind of an issue with the descent as well? Like some valve opening during descent and iirc, killing or almost killing the crew.
@@Kepe *deficiency of blini and vodka
@@Kepe I don't remember exactly, I know that it was the one where life support was failing because of mold behind the panels though.
I hope the helo pilot received the Gold Star Medal or the Hero of the Soviet Union for staying with the capsule. That was an incredibly selfless act that could have resulted in his death.
It may surprise you, but he almost got under court-martial for leaving his helicopter unattended. Military, you see. Cosmonauts backed him up and he was let off the hook.
Also, the guy stayed with the cosmonauts and supported them. A true comrade. However, even if he wanted to leave, he couldn't - the strong wind was blowing from the shore, and he couldn't row against it. He got trapped almost as bad as the cosmonauts were.
Also, the cosmonauts traditionally (and rightfully so) were getting their Hero Star after the flight. Not this time tho. The initial investigation was blaming the crew, and while the final report didn't have that statement, but the Hero Star was not awarded. Only later, when the crew met Brezhnev, he said "Why without Stars, eh?" - and the team got their Stars, after all.
@@vladimirdyuzhevReminds me of Mercury-Redstone 4 for the US missions where the Liberty Bell 7 capsule upon water landing the door jettisoned causing the capsule to start filling with water and Gus Grissom ended up being subject to quite a bit of controversy as NASA had doubts that the hatch blew open on its' own. A few flights later if I recall correctly after Wally Schirra's capsule was recovered, he blew the hatch on the deck of the carrier intentionally, something which creates quite a lot of force and therefore caused injury to Schirra. Gus Grissom had no injuries at all and this is what finally exonerated him from the speculation that ensued. To this day the best guess for what happened is the release lanyard came loose as it was held in place by a single screw.
It's a real damn shame that, at least in that era, the government agencies were so quick to blame the astronauts for things such as this. The politicization of it all and the fact that astronauts were not quite as professional (test-pilots in the US case) as they are today probably has a lot to do with it. I think by the time the Apollo 1 fire occurred it was strongly realized that there are many, many more people that should be held accountable and an astronaut's ability is only as good as the spacecraft that the engineer's built for him to fly.
The Soviets were not big on giving out medals for embarrassing failures, even when they are well deserved. Just look at the K-19 accident, those guys were definitely heroes, and several died, but the whole incident was classified and covered up, and no one got medals.
Hey Scott! Thanks for the videos!! This are the things that takes us away from the bad news and hard quarantine times. We really need this!
How have I not heard of this before? Amazing tale of survival and rescue. Thankyou.
This could be made into an Epic movie..
I love the intro 🙏
he keeps changing it to a random spacecraft
Yeah always an awesome surprise!
Well, yeah, it's cool... , but the voice says "Thank you! Goodbye! See you soon, dear friends!". Which actually is a farewell, not greetings :)
@@zelda_smile its not random, its based on the topic of the video.
A *million* subscribers! Congrats! Please keep doing this :)
Nice dose of very interesting information... again. Thank You Scott.
Imagine surviving space in the early years of space exploration, coming back from space, land safe on earth, and you're closer to death than ever. So close, yet so far.
I bet being inside was torture. Glad everyone survived. And the guy that stayed with them all night, truly awesome.
Excellent video, Sir! This was a bit of Russian Space History that I was unaware of. Thank you for enlightening me. And us!
He said fly safe this time!
He did!!
Congrats on 1M subscribers, Scott!!!!
I thought I knew everything about xUSSR space program. I did not.
See to wiki. Everywhere, and not just in USA, Soviet program is poorly understood. Even I, who read a lot about it, did not see all the photos from this wonderful video. Similar adventures during landing have been more than once. Even recently.
Thanks for the great story Scott. Cheers.
Nice detail in the intro with the Soyuz.
Thanks for this piece of history Scott !
Excellent side stories Scott, really adds depth to the space story and mankind’s overcoming adversity. Respect to all those who have blazed the path up to this day.
Thanks Scott for bringing us this story. I never heard of this mission. Seems like a good one for a movie. Cheers!
Balls of solid Soviet steel, no doubt. It's unfortunate that Roscosmos is now a thin shadow of what these cosmonauts, pilots, and technicians risked their lives to build.
Brass I would hope. Steel balls rust quickly in salty water. But you're right, these bastards are beyond tough.
paid with their lives*
Cosmonauts AND Astronauts in the 60's to 70's ALL had humongous Cobalt Steel balls.. 😉
@@KuK137 Well, more astronauts went up so yeah, statistics :)
Nasa is the same. SLS... woo... It's slowly getting better now under the new administration, but it's got a long way to go before it's cool again.
Wait was this man a descendanr of the commander of the legendarily cursed Second Pacific Squardon?
If so then this family is absolutely cursed by every conceivable body of water.
I don't think so. The admiral's name was spelled "Rozhestvensky" and the cosmonaut's name was spelled "Rozhdestvensky". Note the extra "d".
Doubt it. Rozhdestvensky is quite common surname here in Russia. He might be distant relative but not direct descendanr. By the way i'm surprised that someone from the western country knows about admiral Rozhdestvensky because even in Russia his name is familiar only to historians and some people who are fond of the history of the navy, like me.
@@alexchivilev Has to do with the rise of some good youtubers who have a naval background or interest. Drachinifel ( british engineer and hobby historian) and The Mighty Jingles (retired british navy sailor, video game tuber with a love for history) both gave a nice account of the chaotic stories of the Russo-Japanese war....
@@Zonkotron Luckily, none of the rescue boats were named Kamchatka.
@@phodon129 Because I'm pretty sure they would have manage to see torpedo boats even on Lake Tengiz...
That was a fantastic story. Thank you!
Such a good story, thank you Scott!
Wow, what a story. Thank you for that Scott
thank you for telling this story, Scott!
Excellent story Scott, thanks.
Amazing story. Thanks for the report!
Hope a spacecraft lands at my town's lake some day
Keep the faith, and anything is possible
Yeah, it will be the alien invaders. They are coming for our water and our women. Because they cannot get to an asteroid and they are as attracted to them as we are to worms and fig leaves for procreation.
Remember Murphy's law.
It'll land on your head
@@advorak8529 Where's a Duke Nukem when you need one?
Be careful what you wish for. 15П155М is technically a spacecraft as well.
The Sowjet space program surprises time and again by the feet, they accomplished with pure tenacity and improvisation! It would deserve its own channel. Perhaps an especially knowledgeable CZcamsr? I am 57 and I watched everything I could, about Space on TV. But the majority of what I know now came from your channel, Vintage Space, Curious Droid and Frazer Chain! Thank you for your work! Stay safe!
what an exciting story! Thanks Scott!
Excellent. I'd never heard of this - seems like the worst bit of any Soviet/Russian mission is often the bit where you're no longer actually in space! Nicely presented too - Everyday Astronaut was wetting himself a few days ago for putting up a video that was under 20 minutes, whilst you manage to cram all that information and tension into less than 9!
Wow this is one of my favorite stories now. That’s unbelievable.
This is material for what could be a great movie
Hope you and your family is well already look forward to your history videos
The voice heard during your intro is Yuri Gagain saying, "Thank you. Goodbye, see you soon, dear friends" at around T+20 of his flight.
great story, thanks. more please!
The particular version of the Soyuz involved in that incident was completely battery operated with no solar panels. As a side note, I believe Soyuz 22 which used the backup for the Soyuz in the Apollo-Soyuz mission might have been the last Soyuz mission that was not intended to dock with a space station.
Yes, instead it was a photographic mission.
Amazing video as always.
Capsule: **Rocks around**
Crew: **Just use knives to take off suits**
**Stab**
Oops sorry there
**Stab**
Terribly sorry
**Stabs eye**
Darn I was using that
**Stab**
@@cyborg_v271 sto.. STAB!
Wow, awesome story. Thank you for sharing it :)
This story is perfect for a movie.
The facts that it was so well told helps a lot!
great story thank you for sharing!
Hi, love your videos
Rozh-dés-tven-ski :) from рождество - Christmas
Thank you
Thanks, the Dictionary of Russian Personal Names would have made led to believe the accent was on the second syllable.
@@jrt818 it is on the second one - Rozhdéstvenski
@@Pash2024 I think many may not know that in Russian phonetic transliteration there are no accented characters. This is how Russians indicate stress / accent syllable.
Thanks for the great history lesson.
Great story Scott! Thanks
Wow, that is an incredible story. Shows the tenacity and bravery of humankind, regardless of the country you live in, when one or more of our fellow human's lives are at risk.
Tough luck ending up in a lake from space!
That is some real dedication, and what a master helicopter pilot it must have been.
Fun fact: Soyuz-23 Cosmonaut Valeri Rozhdestvensky was a naval officer and wore a OKEAN version of the Poljot 3133 cosmonaut chronograph wristwatch)
Hey Scott! I've heard a couple of times that there is a plasma that's developed around a deorbiting spacecraft due to the heat, and also that this is one of the reasons why the radio contact is lost during this time spectrum. Not sure if I missunderstood this, but please do a video where you talk about it!
Cheers!
Scott, your pronunciation of Russian names sounds very good, I appreciate the effort you've done to learn it!
Errr... no. It sounded unrecognizable. Value the effort and all that, but, at the end of the day, Scott failed.
I'm Russian, can confirm that pronunciation is completely butchered.
I just had to subscribe.... I'm pretty sure I had subscribed to you already. Is CZcams playing more games?
Murica: We had Apollo 13.
Russia: Hold my Vodka.....
Amazing into.
I really love the Soyuz (Rocket and Spacecraft)
Scott(casually):...and for this he actually suffer severe frostbite and lost two of his fingers.
Me: Ahh yes, he lost two of his fingers no big deal, happens all the time.
fantastic story thanks ...peace out
In other news, I fully expect to see Scott meet the challenge of recreating the SpaceX demo 2 mission. Hopefully all that mission needs is a “recover vessel“ after splashdown.
wow, who knew history could be so interesting. I guess its all about who is telling you about it, thanks Scott!
Świetny odcinek. Dziękuję!
Dude I had no idea about this! Fly safe!
Scott, you are 100% correct if you are talking about water landings WITH crew on board. The Orion EFT-1 craft, a prototype for the crewed Orion spacecraft, was recovered at sea some 800 miles south of San Diego, California at 23 deg 33.6 minutes N by 116 deg 31.4 minutes W on 5 December 2014. Recovery was performed by the USS Anchorage and a crew of NASA, Navy, Air Force and Lockheed-Martin personnel.
And DM-1 landed more recently.
@@scottmanley Very true.
An amazing story. Talk about beating a whole bunch of bad luck!
Thank you, Scott. I'm not worried anymore for Dragon Demo 2.
Hello. The first photo you show of the crew made me laugh because it instantly made me think of the episide where cosmonauts didn't land where it was planned and instead were on Gilligan's Island.
One must respect that helicopter pilot, flying at night and during heavy snowstorm. Its not considered by any means safe conditions to fly.
Fascinating, thanks Scott. If you have a chance would you go to space w New Shepard, Virgin, or SpaceX?
Dramatic event, secret for many years - - well explained, thanks!
I love the new intro.
Fascinating history lesson, thanks Scott. Dare I say it? "Beam me up Scotty".
Amazing as always! And comments below is incredeble! )))
Was that Valeri Komarov last audio in the intro?
Losing two fingers seems like a better deal, than losing a life times worth of sleep, knowing you could have done more.
That badass Russian dude who stay overnight with the crew and lost fingers to frostbite is a hero, I hope he got a medal for that.
Yaaay, flying safe again!
Ever thought of covering the potential (and largely organised) rescue mission for Skylab 3? When they had 2 rcs thruster fail...one felll off actually during launch. Giving Alan Bean a very interesting maneuvering and docking job.
They had the backup crew train (seriously) to fly in a much modified 5 seater Command Module to collect the 3 Skylab people. When it turned out it was not a general problem with all thrusters but two isolated failures they had them come back with them.
The same Crew (all rookies, looking forward to their first flight) at the same time was involved in all the investigations and simulating work that determined that a return with the remaining thrusters was possible. So they basically cancelled their own mission.
I was going to do this, but Rusty Schweikart told me there are serious errors with many of the accounts and we haven’t got together to talk these through.
At those temperatures, you don't use a wet suit, you use a dry suit.