U.S. Mir astronauts prepared for possible Soyuz water landings by training with the Russians in the Black Sea. In this June 14, 1996 update, Mike Foale gives a first-person accout of his training.
This document shows a few scenes from the week I spent training at Dujbga, 100Km west of Sochi, on the Black Sea. I was there with Pat McGinnis, our flight surgeon, and the two Mir-23 cosmonauts Vasily Tsibileev and Aleksandr Lazutkin, and a German cosmonaut. Jerry Lenninger followed me, with the Mir-25 crew, the following week. This is a new place for the Russians to do training, as the old training site, nearer Sevastapol, is now part of the Ukraine, and not under Russian jurisdiction. We spent one week, spending each night in Dujbga, and undergoing training on a Russian cargo ship, about a mile off shore, during each day .
The
first scene is the descent capsule, in which we would be after a normal reentry
by the Soyuz, being lowered into the water, to be towed some distance away from
the ship. I was not able to train with my own Soyuz crews, Mir-23, and Mir-24,
because it was felt the German cosmonaut, who is actually launching in a Soyuz,
would benefit the crew better. It is not planned for me to do an entry in the
Soyuz, during my flight to Mir, unless there is an emergency. Myself and two
trainers, acting as crew members, are already inside, in our reentry space suits,
strapped in, and wondering just how hot and nauseous the next experience is
going to be...
The
collar around the spacecraft is for training safety purposes only. In a real
emergency water landing, only an inflatable balloon like object is available,
coming out of the side indentation, from which the parachute would have been
deployed. Such flotation is intended to keep the spacecraft upright, and water
out of the hatch. In rough seas the situation is nonetheless potentially very
dangerous. While a crewmember gets out of the open hatch, it is hazardous for
the remaining crew, if water starts to get into the capsule. It will sink in
40 seconds. (Yes, they did a test!)
While
inside, we have to either get out of our suits, and put on 4 layers of arctic
winter survival clothing, followed by an orange drysuit, or if in warm waters,
as we were pretending on this day, simply stay in our reentry suits, and put
on life jackets and find all our survival gear. This is all done with the hatch
closed, in extremely close quarters, so a significant heat load builds up, added
to by the continuous bobbing about in the waves. It takes 1 to 2 hours to get
ready, quickly open the hatch and then jump out with the proper equipment. Jumping
out is the key to the exercise. The capsule does not float level, and there
is great danger of the first person rocking the capsule, so that water comes
in through the top and sinks the others. We were told to simply fall, and not
push off in any way with our legs.
Finally,
after shooting some rocket flares off, and firing our "Pistolette" to scare
away sharks etc or more seriously, firing parachute flares, we were picked up.
I had 5 litres or more water in my suit by this time - training suits leak worse
than real ones. My two colleagues on my left, are Sasha, and Sergei, not cosmonauts,
but trainers, who do this sort of thing for fun, again and again. They were
very good, at what they do.
Foale Increment
Profile: Michael Foale
Michael
Foale Oral History (PDF)
Training
 |
Curator:
Kim Dismukes
Responsible NASA Official: John Ira Petty |