(ORDO NEWS) — The Russian module “Science” arrived on the ISS, but during its docking with the station, a real drama broke out, according to Gizmodo. Nauka’s engines suddenly turned on, causing the ISS to lose control over its orientation and turn 45 degrees. This required a response.
Aserious drama ensued in Earth‘s low orbit when, after docking with the ISS, the newly arrived module “Science” for unknown reasons began to start the engines. The Mission Control Center is now working to take control of the still ongoing situation.
Nothing seems to have suffered. The crew is safe, NASA said. The Russian Science Module arrived at the International Space Station at 9:29 am Eastern Daylight Time, with some truly bizarre events occurring about three hours later.
After rendezvous and docking, the ISS crew set to work, checking for leaks at the docking point, opening the lid and integrating computers on the newly arrived Science Module, also known as the Multipurpose Laboratory Module.
Suddenly, out of the blue, around 12:45 PM ET, the Science’s engines suddenly and unintentionally began to turn on. According to a NASA TV live stream, this caused the ISS to lose orientation control and turn 45 degrees. It is still unknown what triggered this situation. There is a possibility that Nauka’s computers believed that the docking was still going on, which led to the inclusion of the engines, but this has not yet been confirmed.
The controllers rotated the space station using a compensating roll control procedure. They did this by turning on the engines on the Russian Zvezda module and the Progress cargo spacecraft, which is now docked to the ISS. The response worked and the ISS returned to its normal orientation. Now the station again fully controls the orientation, no damage or injury to the crew members is reported. As stated in NASA, during the incident, the crew members were not in danger.
At one point, Drew Morgan from NASA’s mission control room asked the astronauts to see what was going on overboard: if there was any debris or damage to the station. According to NASA, the ISS is now in a stable configuration, and restoration work is underway.
It should be noted that this work is being carried out despite the fact that the docked Nauka module still has fuel left, and the engines can start. Update, 3:49 pm ET: According to Anatoly Zak, a reporter for the Russian Space Web, Nauka has burned all the fuel, so the threat of further engine firing appears to have passed.
Rumors have already surfaced that the unmanned Boeing Starliner launch scheduled for tomorrow will be canceled due to the incident. Update, 3:54 PM ET: Starliner launch scheduled for Friday has been canceled, according to official figures. Now we are waiting for the appointment of a new launch date.
Regular scheduled events for the day on the ISS have been canceled as the crew and dispatchers on Earth continue to monitor the situation. Again, it is still unknown why Nauka’s engines started up, an investigation is underway.
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