ESA astronaut on the difference between flying in a Soyuz and piloting a Crew Dragon – The Register
The Soyuz has a really strong smell of old electronics that you just wouldn’t get in a modern commercial spacecraft. ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen has returned from the International Space Station after a six-month mission, having journeyed to and from low-Earth orbit on board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. And although he flew aboard a Soyuz capsule back in 2015 for his first mission to the ISS, this was his first experience of a commercial spacecraft. He has since detailed his experience and likened his recent Crew Dragon flight to the differences between flying in an old school bus versus a shiny new car. In the same way, the astronaut said he had expected more differences in his experiences during the missions, but, while the interiors were drastically different, both craft carried out the core functions remarkably similarly. However, in a conversation with Ars Technica, Mogensen added that there was something tangible missing in the SpaceX vehicle – a whiff of nostalgia.
“In the Soyuz, it smells like old electronics,” he said. “There is something, it is hard to describe, but you have the distinct smell of really old stuff, really old circuitry, that you just wouldn’t get in a modern commercial spacecraft, that is absolutely clean. You can sense, there is no dust in the Crew Dragon.” On top of the smell of the old circuitry, Mogensen pointed to other features that stood out on the Soyuz. These included the small windows that look out into space as well as the hand crank that is used to bring the module’s descent engines online to decelerate the module for reentry. Of the descent engines, he pointed out: “I was just kind of amused by that – a good old-fashioned analogue system. It takes a long time to wind them up – I have a video of myself, I have been sitting there, like ‘It takes longer than I expected to wind these things up!’ The fact that the Soyuz actually had some components where it was pretty manual was really interesting,” he added. The Soyuz has carried astronauts to space for more than six decades, making it a reliable workhorse for missions to the ISS. However, Mogensen’s preference for the modern Crew Dragon interior is not only to be expected given that its features make spaceflight less laborious and uncomfortable, but the modern touchscreens, intuitive controls, and expansive viewports – all things the older Soyuz capsule is missing.
Meanwhile, the Crew Dragon offers a much more technologically advanced flight experience, boasting a sleek and contemporary interior. “When we fly with Crew Dragon, we sit in a comfortable chair,” Mogensen said. “And when we want to adjust the position of the chair or maybe open a window – it all goes through this big screen with very, very few buttons.” While the astronaut concedes that the Crew Dragon was an improvement on the Soyuz capsule, the Russian spacecraft’s legacy, long heritage, and reputation for reliability shouldn’t be overlooked, according to Mogensen. When asked to summarize the Soyuz capsule, he replied, “The Soyuz feels robust, almost archaic. It feels as though if you were in a situation where the power suddenly disappeared, the Soyuz is one of the last things you’d have to worry about. It has always worked.” He explained: “Of course, this is just a sense and there’s not any kind of data behind it. But if you look at it historically, that seems to be a very accurate description of the vehicle – that it would continue working through thick and thin.” Both spacecraft are the products of incredible engineering and have kept humans safely in space, albeit by very different means.
