Non-U.S. Human Space Transportation Failures

Abstract

Non-U.S. human space transportation history from 1961 through 2007 is reviewed. Past and present non-U.S. human space programs and human space launch vehicles and spacecraft are briefly discussed. Category and chronological list of non-U.S. human space missions are presented. The emphasis of the study is on the investigation of mission failures and major anomalies encountered in non-U.S. human space transportation history. Failures and major anomalies by part, root cause, element, function, domain, and component are analyzed. Failure outcome, failure mode, time of failure, and mission reliability relevant to flight safety analysis are examined. Findings and failure mitigation strategy are summarized.

Reachable domain for satellite relative motion along elliptic orbit with uncertainty and process noise

“…1 For satellite close-range relative motion, uncertainties and process noise may lead to catastrophic collisions. The collision events, in 1994 between the Soyuz TM-17 spacecraft and the Russian Mir space station, 2 and in 2005 between the US DART spacecraft and the US MUBLCOM communications satellite during orbital rendezvous maneuvers, 3 highlighted the importance of properly characterizing the effects of system uncertainties and process noise to prevent inadvertent collisions during satellite close-range relative motion.…”