The HabForum

If the flight was a crew exchange it would have been much later than the unity mission.

I think they jumped forward in time or something I don't know. I am trying to remember the movie. I think it was that they two men went up there to get all the wiring done and then the shuttle brought them a new crew and supplies.

The first space station crew was 3 people and they show there launch in the movie on a soyuz rocket. They spent several months onboard before being replaced by the expedition 2 crew.

YES! That was it. I remember the guy talking about how weird it was that people were allowed so close to the launch pad and stuff.

Well like most Imax space films i've seen they skip around quite a bit between missions. You see it alot in The Dream is Alive and Destiny in Space as well if you watch closely enough.

Well by now I know what time I fall asleep and wake up in Destiny in Space.

It was definitely wierd how close they allowed people to the Soyuz rocket.

I think the Russuians are a bit more gung-ho than we are. They don't do quite as many checks or have quite so many saftey requirements. There was a book in which an American woman had to go up in a Soyez. They were drinking vodka and partying just before they hopped in and left. I don't think it is quite so bad, but it certainly isn't as strict as ours.

Its kind of like they are just getting in a car for a ride or something.

How does the # of accidents they've had compare to the # of accidents we've had?

Good question, and one that I don't believe I know the answer to. Maybe Jason does. I think he would be the best bet.

Just make sure to factor in the ratio of their number of launches compared to ours. Also, do you count things such as Laika, where they didn't intend to bring her back?

Well the Russians are there own special little (well not so little) country. Did we plan on bringing back Able and Baker and Ham?

As far as I know we did.

P.S. Things like Laika should count, but I don't know whether or not to count it as an accident since there was no intention to bring her back.

I agree Laika should count, but not as an accident. Maybe they were being pessimistic or however you spell it. Oh well, their main concern was getting people up there and doing it fast. I don't think Laika was on their high list of priorities anyway. Why are we counting these Russian accidents anyway?

Well lets see where do i begin answering all this. I guess this is what i get for not being oin here all day long. First off the russians have only lost 2 crews in flight. They were on Soyuz 1 where we lost a single cosmonaut when the parachute failed to open before landing. And on Soyuz 11 when the capsule depressurised before reentry and the crew of 3 died. They have had a few close calls like the soyuz that landed in a frozen lake and took till the next day to recover but the crew survived. And when a soyuz rocket exploded but the escape tower saved the crew. They have lost quite a few on the ground though one was a cosmonaut in training who died in a fire similar to apollo 1 in the days of vostok thats when they stopped using a pure ozygen enviroment. And the biggest incident was when one of their N-1 moon rockets exploded on the launch pad and killed alot of people on the ground and ended the moon race. And yes we intended for all of our animals to come back aliveand atleast most did with the exception of a few early tests using mice and rabbits. And Laika was never designed to return safely. Oh speaking of Able and Baker today was the launch anniversary of there flight.