The International Space Station briefly loses control after a new Russian module fails

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Nauka – the long-delayed laboratory module that Russia’s space agency Roscosmos launched to the International Space Station last week – inadvertently launched its thrusts after docking with the International Space Station Thursday morning.

NASA officials declared it a “spacecraft emergency” as the space station suffered a loss of control (the angle at which the ISS is supposed to remain oriented) for about an hour, and ground controllers lost communication with the seven astronauts currently aboard the station. International Space. for 11 minutes during the ordeal. A joint investigation is now underway between NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

Joel Montalbano, head of NASA’s International Space Station program, insists that astronauts have never been in danger and have not noticed any damage to the International Space Station. However, at one point, NASA’s mission controller in Houston, Texas, asked that they look outside the space station’s windows to see if they could detect any debris or damage to the station.

The accident also delayed the launch of the experimental unmanned Boeing Starliner to the station, which was scheduled for launch on Friday.

NASA says the move gives the ISS team time to continue operations out of the newly arrived Nauka module at Roscosmos and to ensure the station is ready for Starliner arrival.

“Space flight is challenging, and when we achieve new capabilities there can be some gaps, which is why we prepare and train for these contingencies,” said Kathy Luders, associate administrator for NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Department.

NASA officials were quick to downplay the severity of the accident, calling it a “very exciting watch” and a “dynamic event.”

“Until you exhaust all of your contingency plans, that’s when you start to worry and today we weren’t there,” Montalbano said.

However, Montalbano also acknowledged that the accidental launch of the thrusters had only happened “probably three or four times” in the 20 years that the space station has been in orbit.

Laurie Garver, former deputy administrator of NASA during the Obama administration, described the incident as “a reminder that our lack of insight into the capabilities of our Russian partners presents an uncontrollable risk. I’m not sure we would have allowed one of our commercial partners to dock with () the station if they had just encountered The problems we’ve heard about with this unit previously.”

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