The Russian Soyuz MS-19 is scheduled to return to Earth on March 30!
The SOYUZ MS-19 was launched on October 5, 2021, and docked with the International Space Station, except that 2 of the 3 passengers at the time were not professional astronauts, but actress Julia Belehilde and director Kerim Spencer, who traveled to the International Space Station for 10 days to shoot their first space movie.
According to the original plan, the Soyuz MS-19 will return on March 30 this year, and the returning astronauts will be two Russian astronauts Anton Shkaplerov and Peter Dubrov and an American astronaut Mark VanderHei.
It was only with the changes in international relations that people were once worried that Mark van der Black would not be able to return to Earth as originally planned, but would "stay" in space.
It should be known that he has been in service on the International Space Station for about 6 months, and according to the original plan, he should have returned to Earth as early as last October, only because actress Yulia Belehilde and director Kerim Spencer "grabbed" two seats after filming, one of which belonged to him.
This sudden "overtime" also allowed him to break the record of the United States, because the new record of 355 consecutive days in space broke the record of 340 days of single space flight of the United States, but it has not yet broken the record of 438 consecutive days held by Russian astronauts.
Fortunately, this concern is superfluous, and both Russia and the United States have confirmed that American astronaut Mark Van der Heil will return to Earth normally aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
How do ISS astronauts return?
The International Space Station is an International Space Station led by the United States and Russia, and many countries jointly participate in the construction of the International Space Station, and now there are 10 astronauts on the International Space Station, including 4 American astronauts, 1 European astronaut, and 5 Russian astronauts.
(10 astronauts)
According to the plan, on March 30, 2 Russian astronauts and 1 American astronaut returned to Earth in the spacecraft, leaving 3 American astronauts, 1 European astronaut and 3 Russian astronauts. So the question is, how do the other 3 American astronauts on the International Space Station return to Earth?
In the early days, both the United States and Russia had the ability to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. However, the United States was fully retired in 2011 due to repeated accidents in the space shuttle and the high cost of operating the space shuttle.
Since then, the United States has needed to buy Russian spaceship tickets to enter the International Space Station, but at that time these were not problems, because at that time the relationship between the two countries was better, the tickets were relatively cheap, and the Russian spacecraft technology was also very mature, the safety was very high, and the cooperation between the two was very pleasant.
However, due to the "monopoly", and then the russian spacecraft ticket began to rise in price, over the years NASA spent about $4 billion to buy tickets, and with the changes in relations between the two countries, the United States began to realize that it is easy to be stuck by buying Russian spaceship tickets, so in 2014, the United States began to fund commercial companies to develop manned spacecraft, of which Boeing and Space X received funding, and SpaceX designed the Dragon spacecraft on May 30, 2020 manned launch, Sending astronauts Doug Holly and Robert Becken to the International Space Station has since broken the monopoly of Russian spacecraft.
There is now a Dragon spacecraft on the International Space Station, and after the return of American astronaut Mark Van der Black, 3 other American astronauts and 1 European astronaut will return to Earth in this spacecraft.
Although the United States already has its own spacecraft, they still cooperate with the Russian Space Agency, of which Mark Van der Black is on the Russian spacecraft, and according to the original plan, he will also return to the earth in the Russian spacecraft, all of which was scheduled in advance.
If the Russian spacecraft really does not carry Mark van der Black, Space X's Dragon spacecraft can also bring it back to Earth, and at this point in manned spaceflight, Russia can't get the neck of the United States, and Mark Van der Black will not really be stranded on the International Space Station and unable to return.
Fortunately, in the end, the two countries still chose to maintain cooperation on the International Space Station project, and Mark Van der Hey was able to return to Earth in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft according to the original plan. His mother, who had previously worried that he would not be able to return to Earth, was once sad to the point of tears, but now she can finally calm down.
From the current point of view, all the operations of the International Space Station are still relatively normal, and on March 18, when the three astronauts of the Russian spacecraft docked with the International Space Station, they were also embraced and welcomed by American astronauts.
However, with the changes in the relations between the two countries, the cooperation on the International Space Station has also cracked, especially Russia released a video of the space station simulating the separation of families, which makes people think.
The future of the International Space Station
In fact, the International Space Station has long exceeded the original service life, according to the original plan, the International Space Station is planned to be decommissioned in 2015, but in the field of spaceflight, there are many cases of overdue service, such as: Hubble telescope was originally scheduled to have a service life of 15 years, but it has been repaired and maintained, and has been overdue for many times.
Although the International Space Station has been overdue for many times, it is still difficult to continue to operate because many of the modules are already too old and even have loopholes.
For example: in October 2020, the Russian Star service module has found cracks one after another, there has been a problem of air leakage, although a small amount of air leakage will not threaten the life safety of astronauts on the space station, but the missing gas needs to be launched by rocket, the launch cost is very high, and the cost of launching 1 kg of cargo is more expensive than the same quality of gold, which means that the maintenance cost of the old space station is very high.
Moreover, even if the maintenance technology is good, as the overdue service time is extended, many parts of the International Space Station will be "avalanche scrapped", and the cost of maintaining the International Space Station is higher, making it a not cost-effective thing to keep the space station running.
As a result, the operator plans to bring the International Space Station out of service in January 2031, when it will fall into Earth under control. Although the ISS weighs 500 tons, the ISS is made up of a number of different modules, and the skin is thinner, and when it falls into the Earth's atmosphere, it will rub violently with the atmosphere, and most of it will burn out.
(Simulation of the return capsule)
Although a small number of wreckage will fall on the surface of the Earth, it is planned to fall into the "Nemo Point" in the no-man's land of the South Pacific, which is the farthest place from the land, and because it is far from the mainland, there is no organic matter replenished by land as nutrients, and the nutrient-rich ocean currents do not enter here, and there are very few aquatic organisms here, so the Wreckage of the International Space Station falls here, with the least impact on the Earth.
However, there are still great variables about whether the International Space Station can persist until 2031, and it should be known that Russia has repeatedly proposed to withdraw from the International Space Station and form its own space station. The Russian module is responsible for adjusting the attitude adjustment and orbit position of the International Space Station, and if there is no Russian module, whether the International Space Station can still operate is still a problem.
Coupled with the fact that the cabin is too old, the Islamic Space Station may also be retired by 2031 in the event of major problems affecting safe operations.