American astronaut not worried about Soyuz flight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A U.S. astronaut said Friday she has no qualms about riding a Russian rocket next month despite backto-back mishaps.

Army Lt. Col. Anne McClain said spaceflight is never 100 percent safe and it’s coincidental that the last two Soyuz missions to the International Space Station encountered trouble.

Last month, astronauts had to make an emergency landing in Kazakhstan following a failed launch. A month earlier, a space station air leak was traced to a hole mysteriously drilled into a docked Soyuz capsule. Russian investigators are still working to understand how a rocket sensor ended up bent during manufacturing and how the hole wound up in the Soyuz.

McClain is set to blast off Dec. 3 on her first spaceflight, with a Russian and Canadian. They are to spend six months aboard the orbiting lab.

The 39-year-old helicopter pilot, who has a young son, said her family is used to her risky work — she flew combat missions in the military.

Her crewmates, both men, also have children, she noted from training quarters in Star City, Russia.

“The hardest part about this business is being away from the kids,” she said. “But what I hope to teach him — and what I hope to teach all kids that are kind of looking at this — is that to achieve anything, it takes a lot of sacrifice.”

McClain said she McClain views the Oct. 11 launch accident as “a success story,” given that the abort system saved her friends’ lives. She was back home in Houston, watching the flight and listening to the astronauts’ radio communications.

“The crew was lucky. But every crew that makes it to orbit is lucky. Spaceflight’s not easy,” she said.

Since the accident, three Soyuz rockets have launched successfully with satellites. One more Soyuz flight is planned before McClain’s launch, this one carrying supplies for the space station.

Russian officials have moved up McClain’s flight by a few weeks so she, Canadian David Saint- Jacques and Russian Oleg Kononenko can spend enough time with the current three station residents, an American, German and Russian.