Tulipa kolpakowskiana? #8

I know ... you don't need to tell me ... this thread is getting pretty ridiculous now ... This time, it's really SiberianTiger's fault. He have very kindly proposed to post a question on the Soyuz separation sequence on Novosti-Kosmonavtiki 's forum few days ago, and ... well some of the answers to his post triggered me into using Google with the term EVTI, which is the real acronym for what we have been calling Thermal Blankets ... and here's what I found:

During its orbital flight, the SA is covered with six overlapping panels of MLI insulation (EVTI, ekranno-vakuumnaya termoizplyatsyia, = vacuum-shield thermal insulation). These panels are fastened to the hull with transverse belts that come apart when the SA separates from the PAO. During reentry, the panels are blown away by air stream and thruster plumes.]

How reliable is that piece of information? Well, it's taken from NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status for June 8th 2005 ... which some folks will consider somewhat reliable ;-) Now, the tricky part is going to simulate the blowing away of the blankets during the early stages of the reentry and when the RCS of the Descent module is been used ...

BTW, today is the return of TMA-8 crewed by ISS's Expedition 13th and Anousheh Ansari. I sure wish some external cameras localed on the Orbital or Service Modules could capture some of the events that will occurs ... that'll be very helpful ...