The future of NASA's orbital laboratory may be on the line Sunday night, with a much-anticipated launch of a Russian rocket carrying three astronauts to the International Space Station. <\/p>\n
That's because it will be the first human launch since August, when a Russian rocket lifting a Progress spacecraft carrying supplies to the station blew up en route. <\/p>\n
Both the unmanned Progress and crewed Soyuz vehicles use a similar launch system. <\/p>\n
The Russians said a faulty component caused the failed launch, but the launch system itself had no fundamental flaw. Since the accident, two Progress vehicles have reached orbit without issue. <\/p>\n
We have complete confidence in our Russian colleagues, said Mike Suffredini, manager of the International Space Station Program. <\/p>\n
Flying aboard the Soyuz are NASA astronaut Dan Burbank and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin. <\/p>\n
They'll relieve the station's commander, Mike Fossum, as well as Satoshi Furukawa and Sergei Volkov, who have spent more than five months in orbit and are due to return to Earth on Nov. 21. <\/p>\n
Like Suffredini, the space station astronauts have expressed confidence in the Russian rocket. <\/p>\n
With as many successful launches as they've had for many years, it's clearly not a design problem, Fossum said from orbit. <\/p>\n
It goes back to some kind of a process problem, they went all the way through that, they rebuilt the engine to make sure there were no lingering concerns, and I think these launches are going to be some of the highest probability-of-success launches ever. <\/p>\n
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NASA has confidence in Russian colleagues<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The future of NASA's orbital laboratory may be on the line Sunday night, with a much-anticipated launch of a Russian rocket carrying three astronauts to the International Space Station. That's because it will be the first human launch since August, when a Russian rocket lifting a Progress spacecraft carrying supplies to the station blew up en route. Both the unmanned Progress and crewed Soyuz vehicles use a similar launch system. Continue reading