
Ask HN: What happens if a Soyuz launch splashes down? - walrus01
I was thinking about this following the recent launch failure. Launching to the same inclination as the International Space Station, the ground track of a Soyuz covers significant areas of ocean. In the event of a second stage failure, with the second stage not burning to near fuel exhaustion (engine failure other possible problems), if a Soyuz makes 1&#x2F;2 to 3&#x2F;4 of an orbit and then reenters, it&#x27;s going into an ocean.<p>Obviously this has never happened before. I was wondering what, if any, contingency plans might be in place.
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AstralStorm
The LES parachutes people out and the kosmonaut suits are buoyant. Rescue
involves helicopters.

If the craft somehow survives a bad reentry like you described, the procedure
is same as in normal landing - the capsule is staged and parachutes down.
Hopefully those systems work. See Soyuz 33 mission on how it's done. (That one
was older design and complicated by bad decisions, but it mostly worked.)

It is buoyant and recovered by ship and/or helicopter. If the buoyancy is
compromised, there are additional escape mechanisms involving pyrotechnic
doors.

What Soyuz cannot do is abort to orbit - it does not have a strong engine, so
it always aborts to reentry.

