Thread: Soyuz re-entry
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Old 04-22-08, 08:18 PM   #7
Platapus
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Actually the decision to remove the ejection seats on the Voskhod spacecraft had more to do with the weight and design of the space craft than any confidence in the system.

As we found out on Gemini, ejection seats are not only very heavy, but not the optimum way of un-assing a spacecraft in trouble.

There was very little difference in the volume of the Vostok and the Voskhod spacecraft.

While the Voskhod was very roomy for one, it was rather cramped for two (and you don't want to know how they got three in to it!)

Voskhod 1 had three humans with no room for any ejection seats
Voskhod 2 had the faring for the expandable space walk airlock so no ejection seats there either.

Actually in both missions there was no crew abort capability (gulp!)

By the time Soyuz came around the Soviet design of using deceleration rockets was advanced enough not to need ejection seats and the Soyuz abort rocket system was well established. Since the Soyuz was always designed to hold up to three humans, the incorporation of ejection seats would have been impractical.
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