Suara.com – Space Station International (ISS) unexpectedly shifted in orbit on Thursday (29/7/2021), when the booster on Russia mode just named Science started shooting uncontrollably.
The Nauka module, also known as the Laboratory Multipurpose Module, is a component of the ISS funded by the Russian Federal Space Agency.
The thrust shot changed the orientation of the laboratory’s position by 45 degrees.
Fortunately, according to NASA, the ISS is back under control and its seven astronaut crews are not in danger.
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The unplanned thrust fire from the Nauka module began hours after docking with the ISS at 12:25 am ET.
Mission control at NASA’s astronaut headquarters in Houston, first noticed the space station deviating from its normal position minutes later, triggering an automatic alert to the astronauts on board.
Then at 12:42 a.m. ET, the ISS had lost control of its position.
The 23-ton multipurpose laboratory goes off track at about 1.5 degrees every minute.
To get around this, thrusters on the other side of the ISS, from the Russian Zvezda module, were fired to counter the thrust from Nauka.
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Nearly an hour later, mission control in Houston and Moscow regained control of the ISS and put it into normal position.
“The Nauka thrusters are no longer firing and we are back in stable control,” said Drew Morgan, mission control communicator. The Verge, Friday (30/7/2021).
At this time, it is still unknown what caused the module to fire booster fire.
The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, will lead the investigation into the cause.
ISS events that go off track like this are rare occurrences.
According to Joel Montalbano, NASA’s ISS manager, this has only happened about three to four times in the 20 year history of the ISS.
The new Nauka module was launched from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan last Wednesday.
At that time, the module experienced problems after entering space.
Engineers and mission control in Moscow attempted to make improvements, by turning on the module’s secondary thrusters to prevent Nauka from falling out of orbit and burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.
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