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An Emergency Detection System (EDS) is a system that is used on crewed rocket missions. It monitors critical launch vehicle and spacecraft systems and issues status, warning and abort commands to the crew during their mission to low Earth orbit. It can trigger the Launch Abort System which will take the astronauts to safety.
Soyuz is a series of spacecraft designed for the Soviet space program by the Korolev Design Bureau in the 1960s that remains in service today, having made more than 140 flights. The Soyuz succeeded the Voskhod spacecraft and was originally built as part of the Soviet crewed lunar programs. The Soyuz spacecraft is launched on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After the retirement of the Space Shuttle in STS-135 (2011), the Soyuz served as the only means to make crewed space flights and the only means to reach the International Space Station until the first flight of SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo 2 on 30 May 2020. The Soyuz is heavily used in the ISS programme.
AS-201, flown February 26, 1966, was the first uncrewed test flight of an entire production Block I Apollo command and service module and the Saturn IB launch vehicle. The spacecraft consisted of the second Block I command module and the first Block I service module. The suborbital flight was a partially successful demonstration of the service propulsion system and the reaction control systems of both modules, and successfully demonstrated the capability of the command module's heat shield to survive re-entry from low Earth orbit.
STS-41-D was the 12th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the first mission of Space Shuttle Discovery. It was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 30 August 1984, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on 5 September. Three commercial communications satellites were deployed into orbit during the six-day mission, and a number of scientific experiments were conducted, including a prototype extendable solar array that would eventually form the basis of the main solar arrays on the International Space Station.
The Apollo spacecraft was composed of three parts designed to accomplish the American Apollo program's goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning them safely to Earth. The expendable (single-use) spacecraft consisted of a combined command and service module (CSM) and an Apollo Lunar Module (LM). Two additional components complemented the spacecraft stack for space vehicle assembly: a spacecraft–LM adapter (SLA) designed to shield the LM from the aerodynamic stress of launch and to connect the CSM to the Saturn launch vehicle and a launch escape system (LES) to carry the crew in the command module safely away from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch emergency.
An escape pod, escape capsule, life capsule, or lifepod is a capsule or craft used to escape from a vessel in an emergency, usually only big enough for one person. An escape ship is a larger, more complete craft also used for the same purpose. Escape pods are ubiquitous in science fiction but infrequently used in real vehicles such as supersonic aircraft.
A-002 was the third abort test of the Apollo spacecraft.
A-003 was the fourth abort test of the Apollo spacecraft. This particular flight is notable because during the abort test flight, an actual abort situation occurred, and further proved the Apollo launch escape system (LES). The CM was successfully pulled away from the malfunctioning Little Joe booster and it landed safely under parachutes.
Apollo abort modes were procedures by which the nominal launch of an Apollo spacecraft, either the Saturn IB or Saturn V rocket, could be terminated. The abort of the flight allowed for the rescue of the crew if the rocket failed catastrophically. Depending on how far the flight had progressed, differned procedure or modes would be used. In the history of the Apollo Program, none of the abort modes were ever used on any of the fifteen crewed Apollo spacecraft flights.
A launch escape system (LES) or launch abort system (LAS) is a crew-safety system connected to a space capsule that can be used to quickly separate the capsule from its launch vehicle in case of an emergency requiring the abort of the launch, such as an impending explosion. The LES is typically controlled by a combination of automatic rocket failure detection, and a manual activation for the crew commander's use. The LES may be used while the launch vehicle is still on the launch pad, or during its ascent. Such systems are usually of two types:
Space Shuttle abort modes were procedures by which the nominal launch of the NASA Space Shuttle could be terminated. A pad abort occurred after ignition of the shuttle's main engines but prior to liftoff. An abort during ascent that would result in the orbiter returning to a runway or to an orbit lower than planned was called an "intact abort," while an abort in which the orbiter would be unable to reach a runway, or any abort involving the failure of more than one main engine, was called a "contingency abort." Crew bailout was still possible in some situations in which the orbiter could not land on a runway.
The HL-20 Personnel Launch System is a NASA spaceplane concept for crewed orbital missions studied by NASA's Langley Research Center around 1990. It was envisaged as a lifting body re-entry vehicle similar to the Soviet BOR-4 spaceplane design. Its stated goals were to achieve low operational costs, improved flight safety, and a possibility of landing on conventional runways. No flight hardware was built.
The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle is a class of partially reusable spacecraft used in NASA's human spaceflight programs. Consisting two components – a Crew Module (CM) manufactured by Lockheed Martin, and a European Service Module (ESM) manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space – the spacecraft are designed to support crewed exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Orion is equipped with solar power, an automated docking system, and glass cockpit interfaces modeled after those used in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and can support a crew of six up to 21 days undocked and up to six months docked. A single AJ10 engine provides the spacecraft's primary propulsion, while eight R-4D-11 engines and six pods of custom reaction control system engines developed by Airbus provide the spacecraft's secondary propulsion. Although compatible with other launch vehicles, Orion is primarily designed to launch atop a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with a tower launch escape system.
A terminal countdown demonstration test (TCDT) is a simulation of the final hours of a launch countdown and serves as a practice exercise in which both the launch team and flight crew rehearse launch day timelines and procedures. In the specific case of a TCDT for the Space Shuttle, the test culminated in a simulated ignition and RSLS Abort. Following the simulated abort, the flight crew was briefed on emergency egress procedures and use of the fixed service structure slidewire system. On some earlier shuttle missions, and Apollo missions, the test would conclude with the flight crew evacuating the launch pad by use of these emergency systems, however this is no longer part of the test.
Gaganyaan is an Indian crewed orbital spacecraft intended to be the formative spacecraft of the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme. The spacecraft is being designed to carry three people, and a planned upgraded version will be equipped with rendezvous and docking capability. In its maiden crewed mission, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s largely autonomous 5.3 t (12,000 lb) capsule will orbit the Earth at 400 km (250 mi) altitude for up to seven days with a two or three-person crew on board. The first crewed mission was originally planned to be launched on ISRO's GSLV Mk III in December 2021, but this has since been delayed to no earlier than 2023.
Development of the Commercial Crew Program began in the second round of the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program, which was rescoped from a technology development program for human spaceflight to a competitive development program that would produce the spacecraft to be used in the Commercial Crew Program. Starting in 2011, NASA procured concepts from private vendors for crew vehicles to carry US and international astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Operational contracts to fly astronauts were awarded in September 2014 to SpaceX and Boeing.
Orion is a class of partially reusable space capsules to be used in NASA's human spaceflight programs. The spacecraft consists of a Crew Module (CM) designed by Lockheed Martin and the European Service Module (ESM) manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space. Capable of supporting a crew of six beyond low Earth orbit, Orion can last up to 21 days undocked and up to six months docked. It is equipped with solar panels, an automated docking system, and glass cockpit interfaces modeled after those used in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. A single AJ10 engine provides the spacecraft's primary propulsion, while eight R-4D-11 engines, and six pods of custom reaction control system engines developed by Airbus, provide the spacecraft's secondary propulsion. Although compatible with other launch vehicles, Orion is primarily intended to launch atop a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with a tower launch escape system.
Dragon 2 is a class of reusable spacecraft developed and manufactured by American aerospace manufacturer SpaceX as the successor to Dragon 1, a reusable cargo spacecraft. There are two variants: Crew Dragon, a space capsule capable of ferrying up to seven astronauts, and Cargo Dragon, an updated replacement for the original Dragon spacecraft. The spacecraft launches atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket and returns to Earth via an ocean splashdown. Unlike its predecessor, the spacecraft can autonomously dock to the International Space Station (ISS) instead of being berthed.
In the event of catastrophic failure, the Soyuz spacecraft has a series of automated and semi-automated abort modes to rescue the crew. The abort systems have been refined since the first manned flights and all abort scenarios for the Soyuz MS are expected to be survivable for the crew.
Soyuz MS-10 was a crewed Soyuz MS spaceflight that aborted shortly after launch on 11 October 2018 due to a failure of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle boosters. MS-10 was the 139th flight of a Soyuz spacecraft. It was intended to transport two members of the Expedition 57 crew to the International Space Station. A few minutes after liftoff, the craft went into contingency abort due to a booster failure and had to return to Earth. By the time the contingency abort was declared, the launch escape system (LES) tower had already been ejected and the capsule was pulled away from the rocket using the solid rocket jettison motors on the capsule fairing. Both crew members, Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, were recovered in good health. The MS-10 flight abort was the first instance of a Russian crewed booster accident in 35 years, since Soyuz T-10-1 exploded on the launch pad in September 1983. On 1 November 2018, Russian scientists released a video recording of the mission.
Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2) was a test of the Launch Abort System (LAS) of NASA's Orion spacecraft.
NASA Technical Note TN-D6487 (pdf), pp. 3, 6, vii
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