Tin Can from Stockton

 I was just a bit concerned that the round, glazed section within the scorched metal shell was described on the schematic as "Navigation Window".

It did strongly resemble the porthole on a ship or a fancy feature window in the side of a house. It was a thick tempered glass oval, set and sealed in a shiny surround with some very prominent seals or rivets.

There were other similar apertures.

and a few more rivets....

If I had been the British Astronaut Tim Peake returning to earth from the International Space Station I would have insisted, categorically, on a better and more reassuring description than Navigation Window for that part of the Soyuz capsule particularly as it was entrusted with bringing the fictional me and the actual him through the tempestuous atmosphere of Earth in June 2016.

The scarily heat blackened and rust-red object that is currently on display to the public at the National Railway Museum in York, England is one of wonder and amazement.

It stands just a few metres away from a faithful replica of George Stephenson's Rocket Locomotive from 1829 and there is some element of shared DNA between them in terms of engineering ingenuity and the impact that their inventiveness has had on humanity.

Ironically, the Space Age rocket on which the capsule was mounted spent some of its journey to the Baikonur Cosmodrome by conventional rail.

Side by side, the Soyuz TMA-19M could, with a bit of adaptation, have been a spare boiler for Stephenson's iconic 19th Century steam engine given its shape, quality of manufacture and resistance to huge physical and dynamic forces. These, granted on the edge of Space were not the same as those at play between Stockton and Darlington in the North East of England but in their own way did have some similarities.

I was initially shocked by the compact form of the Russian spaceship. I am of that generation weaned on Star Trek, Space 1999, Buck Rogers and Sci-Fi movies where inter-stellar travel was done in civilised comfort aboard a fantastic vessel with all of the usual home comforts and accompanying visual and sound effects.

Tim Peake in contrast, for his return journey, was slung in a chair in the Soyuz surrounded by post Soviet supremacy technology and I would think, not a little bit concerned about quality control and safety standards.

His safe delivery, however, to the vast and remote Kazakh Steppe was testament to the skill and dedication of the team behind his Mission and much praise and admiration must be forthcoming to the hundreds and thousands involved.

And they landed the thing using fabric parachutes..........................................................