Today, we all make history. For the first time, man will set foot on an asteroid. A Soviet cosonaut on an American ship, wearing a suit manufactured by private company. This is the fruit of our Mars alliance.
Roscosmos director Lenara Catiche, season 4, episode 1, "Glasnost"
Today, we take the next step towards a self-sustaining Mars colony.
NASA administrator Eli Hobson, season 4, episode 1, "Glasnost"
The Kronos capturing mission, also Ranger-1 mission, was a Mars-7 Alliance and Helios Aerospace joint mission in March 2003 with the aim to capture the asteroid XF Kronos and bring it into Martian orbit for later mining. The mission failed, leading to the death of cosmonaut Grigory Kuznetsov and Helios space worker Tom Parker, and the release of the asteroid.
History[]
First steps[]
The Mars-7 Alliance detected the asteroid XF Kronos and planned to use it to mine resources, which would help build a self sustaining Mars colony. Before the mission, Ed Baldwin and Grigory Kuznetsov played a game of cards to determine who would be the first man to make contact with an asteroid. Kuzetsov won after pulling a pair of Queens.[1]
Kuznetsov eventually made his way out of Ranger 1 as the Roscosmos and NASA mission controls celebrate their joint accomplishments. As Kuznetsov approached the asteroid, he relished the moment, slowly gliding his hand against the surface before stepping foot on Kronos.[1]
Capture mission[]
After Kuznetsov's moment, other astronauts made their way out and began the anchoring process and connecting cables to a truss for Ranger-1 to connect to. After the cables were connected and secured, Ranger 1 connecetd with the truss and soon after ignited the thrusters and began towing the asteroid toward Mars. However, as the acceleration began, the cables slowly began to loosen up, causing the rock to begin to wobble. Baldwin tried to compensate but the wobble increasingly got worse.[1]
Tragedy[]
Kuznetsov volunteered to re-tension the cables, despite the orders from Happy Valley commander George Peters not to. Space worker Tom Parker agreed to help, not willing to give up the bonus if they eject the asteroid. As the two reach the truss, things got worse as the truss crushed a leg of Kuznetsov and a part of a truss which broke loose impaled Parker. Baldwin attempted to rescue Kuznetsov but the latter realized there was a puncture in his suit and it was already losing oxygen. Kuznetsov reminded Baldwin to consider the safety of his team and pled with Baldwin to leave him. After some hesitation, Baldwin bid farewell to his friend before ejecting Ranger 1 from the asteroid, leaving Kuznetsov and Kronos to drift off.[1]
Aftermath[]
Following the events, Commander Peters was relieved of his duties as Happy Valley commander, being later replaced by Danielle Poole. The M-7 asteroid capture program was stopped upon further investigation on what went wrong on the mission.[1]
After Margo Madison got her hands on the Soviet incident report, she noted there was a manufacturing error with the anchor bolts that were designed and built by Roscosmos. The anchor bolts didn't meet specifcations due to a conversion error which Kirill Semenov tried to cover up but later took accountability for, once confronted on it by Irina Morozova. Due to this, Semenov was fired from Roscosmos and taken away by the KGB in front of his team.[2]
Gallery[]
See also[]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 For All Mankind TV series, season 4, episode 1, "Glasnost"
- ↑ For All Mankind TV series, season 4, episode 4, "House Divided"