Why Cosmonauts Have Never Splashed Down 

Soyuz-23 splashed down on the lake Tengiz and was stuck in the water for a long time, because the was also a storm on the lake and it also was in the freezing weather so the recovery was very hard, it was almost a story of a disaster, you could mention that or make a video about it since it one of the least known stories that deserves its own movie.

I've heard the Soyuz re-entry and landing described as "a train wreck followed by a car crash followed by a bike wreck."

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to make a very small nitpick, regarding the geography you brought up around 2:30 : At the time Baikonur Cosmodrome was constructed, Kazakhstan was simply part of the Soviet Union, same as Russia or any of the other 13 union republics. There was no lease to the Soviet government, as the cosmodrome was on Soviet land. The lease came in the 1990's, when Russia and Kazakhstan were newly independent, and Russia had inherited the program, but not Baikonur. Love the videos; this one was excellent!

The 2 day in the ocean thing is important because after 2 days the astronauts are classified as fish and can be harvested by fishermen.

@2:31 Back in the days when space complex was build, Kazakhstan was part of USSR. Russia rent the complex from 1991 when USSR failed. But before that it was just a "domestic spaceport".

While my historical focus is more maritime oriented, I always find these videos fascinating. Keep up the good work, Amy!

Not only is Baikonur at the same latitude as Portland, Maine, but, apparently, so is Paris. The Gulf Stream makes a big difference in climate, there.

As a historian I am really enjoying your page. Your citing evidence from viable sources and giving an actual " History" other than just the historical opinion. By the way your hair is very attractive and looks so good.

Kazakstan WAS in the USSR, no leasing required.

@4:01 Also the seats are on shock absorbers. They move up a bit just before landing so as to further soften the landing.

Love this girl. As a person who always studied the space program growing up, it’s good to see someone actually give us actual information.

Great video. Also just bought your book on Kindle and am loving it :D

Actually, Jules Verne picked up on the equatorial launch site in his novel "From the Earth to the Moon". And that was in 1865. Also, he had some sound understanding about escape velocities and orbital mechanics. All of this was picked up by NASA, except maybe for his original launch method, which was using a giant canon :-)

Can you talk about the fact that the Russians keep a gun in the capsule to help if they land in the wilderness and have to fight wildlife? They even had a special pistol made, but nowdays they use the standard russian army pistol.

Cool. Thanks for another great video Amy :)

great video as always, I really appreciate that your videos are so professionally made

I have always been wondering, how does the range safety officer destroy the SBRs or other parts of the rockets in the event of a catastrophic failure and how does this process work? Can you please make a video on this?!

There is a story that when Yuri Gagarin landed the first person to see him was a little girl, who asked him "Are you a spaceman?" I like to think of her now, telling her grandchildren how she met the first man in space.

Great job Amy, thank you.

Great as always, Amy! Also, you did a killer job on your eyes! Keep it up!!!

The latitude of the Kazakhstan launch site also contributed to the orbit inclination of the ISS. Easiest inclination to enter from Florida or Central Asia.

"The Kazakh government leased the site to the Soviet Union in the 1950s" No, Kazakhstan was a republic of the Soviet Union, there was no leasing involved.

Amy, love your content, loved your book. You get prettier every video. Keep up the amazing work x

thanks for this very clear explanation - yes this disixties landing strategy is something I have wondered about since the sixties

The Soviet era's obsession for secrecy guaranteed that landing outside Russian territory was a non starter and it's space program was no exception. It's why the public often felt that America was well behind because unlike their counterparts each success/failure was being broadcast live to a fascinated public. The space race for The Soviets cost hundreds of lives which remained hidden for decades and unless Cosmonauts died the picture they presented was nearly always of triumph.

I've often wondered if another reason for landing cosmonauts within the Soviet Union was to prevent them from defecting, since if they landed at sea they could conceivably have been picked up by a non-Soviet ship.

Nice to see a Episode again!

Thanks for the video your video's help me feel happy even though I have depression keep up the good work 😊

Retrorockets can set fire to the grass which is a bit worrying when you are trapped inside and can't move much since you just got back to having gravity after 6 months. Can you do a video on April 5 anomaly (Soyuz 18a)? I think that is the only time a launch abort at high altitude has been made.

Nasa should take this girl to the ISS for publicity! hint hint Nasa. right Amy? how about a live stream on PBS and youtube of vintage space from ISS? Send Scott Manley too, and some kerbels to keep them company.

I'm going through a bunch of archive videos on this channel - MAN do I prefer these later videos where Amy is herself rather than the earlier Pop-Sci aligned videos. 👍🏻 Great job! Keep going!

So it was pretty much what I thought. Thanks for the clarifacation and bringing up the many other factors involved. You Rock-et Amy.😁

To W--Stranger, In 1989 Russia finally acknowledged the Nedelin Diasater in 1960 were upwards of a 135 men were killed when a booster exploded and injured even more. Indeed hundreds have died in accidents ranging from falling from gantry to an US ICBM fuel tank being breached by a falling wrench with the following explosion launched its warhead and cover out of the silo. Every nation that has achieved orbit has lost people on the ground and the dangers of dying even happened well away from the pad like the Pepcon disaster which made the Schuttles solid rocket fuel...

Wich kind of music did the crews of Apollo and Gemini take with them and what device did tey use to play it on??

Thanks Amy for another great video.

Great video, as per usual. I had always wondered about this.

They did it for the same reason Russia does a lot of things they do: they didn't have much choice. Naval recovery is hideously expensive and demands resources that Russia lacked...widespread access to warm water ports and a real blue water navy. The Soviets didn't really have that navy for most of the 1960s. Recovering ships from remote oceans would have been difficult for them to pull off when Soyuz was developed. Even now, their navy is far less capable than the US Navy. Lack of NASA level funding is the blessing and the curse of the Russian space program. It's forced them to use simple, low cost technology, but it's also limited what they can do. You won't see Russia spending $1.5 billion to launch a shuttle or $9 billion to put up a space telescope.

What would happen if the thrusters would fail the second before landing? Also, the landing would be the least of my worries if I could go to space. :-P

You are so smart... I also like the new hair color! Thanks for explaining why the space powers take off and land where they do.

I love your channel! I was around during the vintage space era

I wonder which was less expensive. I'm thinking the Land Landing. Especially​ when you consider the number of men, ships, fuel etc. the Navy had to employ in multiple areas.

Israel is the only country who launch towards the west, do to concerns of neighboring countries. As a result, their payloads are very small and then don't launch often.

Soyuz 23 actually splashed down on lake tengiz, the recovery was made difficult because of freezing weather and there was a storm on the lake,the capsule's escape hatch was actually covered by the water. the crew got out alive, but it was a close call

Very well explained, was a thought that I had briefly mulled over myself so thank you for the great explanation

Retro rockets are way cooler though :)

You should probably mention how the Soyuz times the retrorocket burn just before touchdown. If I remember correctly, they use backscatter from a cobalt-60 gamma-ray source. It would be interesting to hear why they picked that as opposed to a radar. The ejection seat detail I hadn't heard before. Very interesting. Must have been tough. Go talk to Ed Lu, he can tell you some great stories about training for a Soyuz landing. Apparently they put the whole capsule, with cosmonauts/astronauts inside, in an oven, get it heat soaked, and then drop it on the permafrost. They have a limited amount of time to get out (15 min?), and they train for one crew member to be incapacitated and the others have to haul them out.

Both Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were used for splashdowns by US spacecraft . Pacific Splashdowns Apollo's 8 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 . Gemini 8 Skylab 4 Sigma 7 Faith 7 Atlantic Splashdowns Apollo's 7 , 9 Gemini 6A , 7 , 9A , 10 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 Liberty Bell 7 Freedom 7 Aurora 7 Friendship 7

Thanks for the video. I gave this same answer on another thread recently, but its more fun watching you present it!

Since you wouldn't mind the "hard" Soyuz landing, I think we should start the "Let's send Amy to the ISS (with Pete)" petition to NASA! It would be so awesome for you to do a Vintage Space episode from orbit!!!! Whatcha think?? ;)

Five Flat-Earthers left a thumbs down...

Great video! as always!

This channel has bettered my life.

Are you jake ropers (vsauce 3) girlfriend?

The Kazakh government was essentially the Soviet government as it was one of the Soviet Socialist Republics.

Great stuff, Amy!

Russian/Soviet lack of access to warm water ports has been one of the drivers of Russian/Soviet foreign policy. Loved "Breaking the Chains of Gravity." I would have preferred if you had read the audio book but I still enjoyed it. Looking forward to the next installment.

Can You Please make Video about Cars in Space. Was the Tesla the first Car in Space?

@2:59 "The bodies of water that the Soviet Union did have access to are all in the Arctic Circle . . . ." FALSE. The Soviet Union had direct access to the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Bering Sea and, yes, the North Pacific Ocean. These all lie well outside the Arctic Circle. [Please, just *look* at your own map!] Between 1961 and 1991 the Soviet Union possessed a full-fledged blue-water navy capable of operating around the world. Soviet Navy's Pacific Fleet, consisting of hundreds of ships, had its home port at Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan and Avacha Bay (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and later Vilyuchinsk) offered direct naval access to the Pacific. The idea that there was some kind of geographic or naval reason the USSR could not use a warm-water Pacific splashdown is bogus. [The primary and widely recognized reason, the one glaringly omitted by the video, was secrecy. The Soviets didn't want the outside world to watch what it was doing. The other considerations were trivial by comparison.] @2:34 "The Kazakh government leased the site to the Soviet Union in the 1950's." FALSE. As has been pointed out, in the 1950's the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic was a constituent republic of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Baikonur Cosmodrome site was established by joint resolution of the Central Committee of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Council of Ministers of the USSR on February 12, 1955. No lease was required for this secret site. It wasn't until December 1991 that the Kazakh SSR declared its independence of the USSR, took the name, "Republic of Kazakhstan" and the USSR dissolved. It was only after this that the problem of Russian interest in facilities within an independent Kazakhstan was addressed by leases. This is very simple common knowledge. @Vintage Space I just have to ask, ARE YOU NOT ASHAMED OF THIS? Projecting sloppy disinformation like this onto the internet posing as "education" is irresponsible and immoral. You could easily shanghai a high school intern of middling intellect to research scripts before production. Do it. Whoever is doing that work now (if anyone) obviously cannot hack it. And somehow our presenter (a "spaceflight historian" no less) uttered these obviously false prattlings without choking. How? How? Will it help if I unsubscribe? Will it? UNSUBSCRIBED

Simply Brilliant!

Hi Amy, good vid with great vocals - nicely modulated, well done : )

Another happy landing! Always interesting thanks!

Thank you so much for starting a channel Bravo

I love you beyond human comprehension. If your ever in Wisconsin, I'd love to have an educated conversation of comprehension itself. Keep up the good work.

Fascinating presentation thanks xxx

Project Gemini in its early design phase did plan for a recovery on land with the Rogallo wing (one of the concerns expressed by someone either in Congress or at NASA was that “half the US Navy was deployed for a splashdown”). Unfortunately the wing never worked sufficiently well in testing and thus Gemini switched to the parachute and a splashdown for recovery. But a remanent of the Rogallo wing design remained as Gemini was outfitted with ejection seats rather than an escape tower as in Mercury and Apollo (you reported on this a few years ago). One of my favorite anecdotes involved a test of the Gemini ejection seats as the hatches failed to separate from the spacecraft and the seats, now ignited, plowed right through the closed hatches. The late John Young reportedly said “Well, you’d have quite a headache, but a mighty short one!” Thanks, Amy, for your great and informative work always.

I love this channel. She always makes such well researched and scripted content.

Great informative video

I LOVEEEEE your videos and channel.

Great video, Thanks

i love your channel and i love space

Thanks for the "shout out" to Portland, Maine

Amy's Back!!!!

When I was a kid, I went to an exhibit called "Soviet Space," which was all about the Soviet space program. From this I have a book that shows how all of this equipment worked. It even showed the capsule ejection system on the Soyuz that you were talking about!

Great video!

Love your videos

I think the Voskhod was the first Russian spacecraft to use landing retro rockets. What's more interesting about Voskhod missions were that there was no launch escape system and the crew who got to ride the 3 seat Voskhod 1 couldn't wear spacesuits because of the limited interior space.

Fascinating.

Beautiful and Smart!👌

Hey! Havent gotten to watch in a while... I'd like to hear more about a landing.... the landing of the soviet Lunokhod tank, rover on the moon! Great channel!

So interesting!

Great vid

“The soft landing is not really soft” - Paolo Nespoli

Thanks for the video! Always wondered ^_^

@Vintage Space.. Hi Amy so love your channel, it feeds my inner space nurd 😂 I am working security for Col Chris Hadfield when his tour comes to Belfast Northern Ireland on 15th of February!! #Starstruck.. OMG As a kid I visited Kennedy space centre (1978) finally I get to meet my 1st real live astronaut! After watching your videos of you meeting Pete Conrad I can say that I will probably be as enthusiastic 😂😂 whilst trying to remain "Professional" Thank you so much as your channel has helped me rekindle my childhood fascination with Apollo and space x PS my 7 yo Grandson Joshua loves your videos and we got him his first telescope for Christmas. Cheers Bill

I love your Vintage Space channel! Here is a topic to consider: The development of the space suits used for Gemini and Apollo. I think the Playtex (girdles!!?!!) company was heavily involved. Thanks!

Hay Amy. That was very informative I love all your vids. ? Is Pete barred from making an appearance? Was he a bad cat?. As always keep up good work.

You're my new favo channel on YT :) I love the history and the science and I sure don't mind watching a beautiful woman telling it all! "She blinded me with science!"

it's interesting seeing genuine vintage film stock. i edit video to look like that sometimes and you often wonder if you're getting the look right

amazing video, next time you could do about the SS 520-5

YEY !!! You're back !!!!!!!! "Videos up here" arent appearing to me again tho ..

As usual, well done. We Mainers (real and from away) appreciate the shout-out from our long-displaced neighbor.

Vintage Space and everyday astronaut colab imagine how awesome that world be

Thank-you for this piece. I am 63 and have been a space junkie my entire life. Surprisingly, you have taught me many things I didn't know. I would gladly buy the Soyuz ticket to ISS or a Space X ticket to circumnavigate the moon. Some day maybe a viewer will sponsor your first person adventure.

I also wondered this too!

So great

I once went to a lecture of Chris Hadfield who commanded the ISS for some time. He described a conversation he had with cosmonauts about the (he spoke with Russian accent) "soft landing rrrockets". He repeated that with a strange emphasis on "soft" and then fell into this meditative silence. The hall exploded laughing.

Amy, I would love to see an episode about Gus Grissom’s Mercury space suit. What little I know is that Betty Grissom loaned the suit to NASA...and they proceeded to 1) claim the Gus misappropriated the suit, and 2) place the suit on permanent display in their museum near the cape.

Your quite welcome to take a ride in my ship Amy, she as warp capability and is also configured for atmospheric flight, she's not all that large, though she will give you a rush like nothing on your Earth can, you'd also be the first Terran to board her. P.S Joking apart, awesome release, as always

Very interesting.

The first german in space Mr. Sigmund Jähn (DDR) had such hard landing with Sojus 29 in 1978. He was hurt at his spine I heard an interview once that he never really recovered from it. The sojus capsula was dragged by the parashutes in a wind-gust on the ground after touch down and they had problems to release... It was like a car crash the casula was rolled over again and again...