A few words on pyrotechnics. Many irreversible powerful actions are performed on spacecraft by pyrotechnics, which are specialized explosives that can cut a bolt in half, for example, or close a large valve. Our seats are hiked up just before landing by a pyro device. They are reliable, powerful, very light, and are easily started (initiated) by an electrical signal such as generated by a computer or by relay logic. If a mechanical action needs to be performed only once on the spacecraft, chances are that a pyro will be involved.

The ballistic returns on two recent flights were caused by the failure of a particular one of five retaining latches that connect the capsule from the lower instrumentation unit. All five latches have to open for a good separation – eventually the bad latches burned up and the returns were successful in ballistic mode. Each latch is held by two explosive bolts in such a way that if either bolt works, the latch opens. Each bolt is fired by two separate initiators from separate circuits, with one initiation being sufficient. So here is the puzzle: how could the two bolts in two separate flights fail despite of each being initiated or triggered in two separate ways? The bolts had to be exposed some temperature or electric field at their positions in space where the spacecrafts were parked for six months that made the initiators not work.

I feel immense satisfaction that with the resolution of the Cold War and the collapse of the Evil Empire, the pride of the Russian space industry is now in the open and furthermore that I, a private person, can participate in it and support it. No one in 1961 had an inkling of a future anything remotely like what we experienced.

The rocket that I will ride, now called the Soyuz (the same as the spacecraft for some reason) is in fact a more modern R-7, with a stretched upper portion but essentially still an R-7.

The quarantine starts 21 days before the launch and intensified after one week. The general idea is to prevent any new infections, yet have enough time to see if any old infections develop. We are progressively separated from the public, have our own kitchen, and observe many small precautions, such as washing or wiping our hands “at the drop of a hat”.

From the airport to our hotel we drive through bleak countryside where we may spot an occasional camel not far from the houses connected by dirt roads. This billboard is new, it says: “Space: our common home”. 

How come the Russian spaceport is here? In the Soviet times, more precisely in 1955 it made sense to build the launch facilities at a southern point that is remote and is surrounded by vast deserts. The southern latitude helps with the payload. The closer the launch is to the equator, the more the booster can benefit from the rotation of the earth. The remoteness of the site was important for maintaining Soviet secrecy before the advent of spy satellites. Finally, the desert is important not only because rockets might fail (manned rockets excepted of course) but also because successful launches also shed hundreds of tons of stages and other components that fall to the earth uprange.

The scaffolding gives us a general idea of the size of the spacecraft. The instrumentation module that is not accessible for the crew is at the bottom. The return capsule is on the second level, and the living compartment starts at the third. The entrance is there and we climb down into the return capsule in the inside.