Homeboy Astronomy Blog - Homeboy Astronomy Blog – Down-to-Earth Advices for Amateur Astronomers

It was a close call. The returning cosmonaut and two astronauts almost died during their landing because Sojuz capsule almost burned in the atmosphere. The crew was very lucky because the situation was actually very dangerous. The results could have been much worse.

Last weekend the Sojuz capsule was bringing back cosmonauts Juri Malatshenko, American Peggy Whitson and South-Korean Yi So Yeon. They had spent over half a year in the International Space Station (ISS).

For some reason the capsule entered the atmosphere in wrong angle. The heath protecting shield was in the backside of the capsule, and in fact the vehicle was coming down without heath protection. The capsule set on fire and finally landed far away from the planned landing site.

The most scared was South-Korean Yi So Yeon who saw the flames around the capsule. “I thought we will die burning, but because other stayed calm, I tried to look like everything is just fine“, says Yi So Yeon.

Virgin Galactic is soon going to start their space flight. According to Daily Mail, the first test flights will be done on next summer. They will take one just married couple to spend two hours in the altitude of 112 kilometers. The chosen couple will first get three-days training. According to Virgin Galactic, two couples have booked to a flight so far. One couple will get married in the space while the other couple will focus on their “celestial honeymoon”.

Well, I hope Virgin Galactic will not have as serious problems as the recently landed Sojuz capsule. I am very interested to see how the space flights will go. I am a bit afraid that Virgin Galactic will face serious problems just because they are the pioneers and pioneers usually have to solve the most difficult problems. Anyhow, it is great to see people flying to space. May be I will fly one day as well. I guess it would be a staggering experience.

Would you like to fly to space with Virgin Galactic?