Astronauts went ballistic on re-entry

A computer software error likely sent a Russian spacecraft into a rare ballistic descent that subjected the three men on board to chest-crushing gravity loads that made it hard to breathe, space experts said today.

If that proves to be the case, it should be an easy repair and the two new residents of the international space station should have nothing to fear when it’s their turn to ride a Soyuz capsule back to Earth this fall.

A cosmonaut whose own Soyuz landing two years ago was steep but not ballistic, Talgat Musabayev, said Russian space experts believe the problem was caused by software in the guidance computer that was installed in the Soyuz TMA-1 spaceship. It was the first time the new, modified spaceship had been used in re-entry.

US astronaut Kenneth Bowersox, the commander of the 5 1/2 month mission, said he and his crewmates knew what was coming when the computer display suddenly switched from a normal to a ballistic entry on Sunday.

The capsule came in considerably steeper than planned, and the men endured more than eight times the force of gravity, double the usual amount.

“It was easier than I thought it was going to be,” Bowersox said at cosmonaut training headquarters outside Moscow. “There’s a lot of pressure on your chest and when you come back from space, just one-G makes you feel heavy.

“So it’s hard to breathe and your tongue sort of slips in your head and toward the back of your throat.”

Astronaut Donald Pettit noted: “For me, for a moment, it felt like I was Atlas and I had the weight of the whole world on my shoulders.”

Their capsule landed nearly 300 miles off-target in Kazakhstan. Two hours passed before anyone knew where they were or how they were doing – indeed, whether they were even alive.

It was the first time that Nasa astronauts returned to Earth in a Russian spacecraft. The switch from a shuttle to a Soyuz ride was made following the Columbia disaster.