How Astronauts Could Survive In The Cold After A Soyuz Landing

If your spaceship comes back in rural Kazakhstan, and it’s blowing snow, and rescue forces can’t get there right away, how would you survive the cold? This winter survival video below shows how cosmonauts and astronauts would leave the spacecraft and make shelter while waiting for help to arrive.

An even more complicated scenario would arise if the crew member was injured, explain European Space Agency astronauts Andreas Mogensen and Thomas Pesquet, who were reflecting on Mogensen’s survival training in January in the video.

The video shows crew members creating a makeshift brace for a broken arm, which would be painful — but would not necessarily inhibit walking. If it was a broken leg, other crew members would need to carry the injured person — slowing down the march if they needed to move to another location.

For more information on the rigors of winter survival training, check out this 2004 blog post from NASA astronaut Clay Anderson.

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Elizabeth Howell

Elizabeth Howell is the senior writer at Universe Today. She also works for Space.com, Space Exploration Network, the NASA Lunar Science Institute, NASA Astrobiology Magazine and LiveScience, among others. Career highlights include watching three shuttle launches, and going on a two-week simulated Mars expedition in rural Utah. You can follow her on Twitter @howellspace or contact her at her website.

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