The arrival of a new module from the International Space Station did not go smoothly last night. Shortly after the Russian Naukka module was docked, its thrusters unexpectedly turned on, causing the entire space station to spin.
It took more than 45 minutes before flight control could stop the unwanted maneuver by counteracting with other thrusters. In the incident, communication with the space station was lost twice because the antennas were turned away.
Although it is not yet clear what caused the malfunction, the space station has not suffered any known damage. Also, according to NASA, the seven astronauts on board were never in danger. The three Americans, two Russians, a Japanese and a Frenchman would not have even noticed that the ISS was moving.
Delay
The arrival of the Nauka, with on board also a Dutch robot arm, was originally planned for 2007. However, due to technical problems, the launch was repeatedly delayed. Also the trip to the ISS was already problematic by stalling engines.
The new module should provide more space for scientific experiments. At least 11 more spacewalks are needed before Naukka (Russian for science) can be deployed.
Due to the incident, a test flight with Boeing’s new Starliner capsule has to be postponed for a few days. Its launch was planned for tomorrow, but because NASA first wants to analyze the situation properly, it has been decided to postpone the flight to August 3.
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