Diary of a Cosmonaut
Today the State Commission met to decide on extending our flight. They didn’t reach a decision — opinions were divided, and they took a timeout, because if the flight is extended, the December 8th landing would be at night, failing to meet safety requirements: first, the engine burn must occur in daylight so we can visually monitor the orientation by Earth and, in case of engine failure, correct the orientation when switching to the backup engine; second, the search-and-rescue service requires one hour of daylight after touchdown to organize the search and crew evacuation. This requirement is not met with a nighttime landing.