Russia rocket mishap briefly nudges International Space Station out of position

[Eugene]

Also: Russia's Nauka module briefly tilts space station with unplanned thruster fire (Space.com)

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Source; The Guardian and agencies

Russia rocket mishap briefly nudges International Space Station out of position

After several ‘hiccups’ on the journey to the ISS, the Nauka lab module accidentally fired its rockets after docking

Agencies
Fri 30 Jul 2021 00.31 BST

Russia’s troubled Nauka laboratory module has caused a fright when its rockets accidentally fired after docking the with the International Space Station, briefly throwing the station out of position.

A few hours after docking, Nauka’s propulsive devices unexpectedly fired, forcing personnel aboard the ISS to fire thrusters on the Russian segment of the station to counter the effect.

The module started firing “inadvertently and unexpectedly, moving the station 45 degrees out of attitude,” Nasa said on Twitter. “Recovery operations have regained attitude and the crew is in no danger.”

Russia’s Roscosmos space agency attributed the issue to Nauka’s engines having to work with residual fuel in the craft, Tass news agency reported.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jul/30/russia-rocket-mishap-briefly-nudges-international-space-station-out-of-position

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Source: Space.com

Russia's Nauka module briefly tilts space station with unplanned thruster fire

Nauka continues to provide lots of drama in orbit.

By Meghan Bartels - Senior Writer about 7 hours ago

Nauka's bumpy ride to the International Space Station didn't get any smoother after the new Russian science module docked on Thursday (July 29).

A little over three hours after docking was complete, cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov were in the Zvezda module to which Nauka docked, preparing to open the hatch between the two vehicles. Then, at 12:45 p.m. EDT (1645 GMT), thrusters on Nauka fired "inadvertently and unexpectedly," according to NASA spokesperson Rob Navias. As a result, the space station temporarily lost what engineers call "attitude control," which is quite rare, Navias noted.

"The crew is not in any danger, never was in any danger and attitude control has been regained," Navias said during a live broadcast begun after the station regained its position.

The unplanned thruster firing caused the orbiting laboratory to tilt by about 45 degrees from its proper orientation before the station was able to right itself, Navias said. All told, the station lost attitude control for a total of about 47 minutes, according to NASA officials.

The space station automatically recognized that Nauka's thrusters were sending the orbiting laboratory askew and ordered the Zvezda module to fire its own thrusters to compensate, a process completed by the robotic Russian Progress 78 cargo ship, which is also docked to the space station.

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Read more: https://www.space.com/nauka-module-thruster-fire-tilts-space-station

[paleotn]

1. Thought they were doing their own thing now?

That won't come a moment too soon.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Russian thruster misfire led to a 'tug of war' at the International Space Station ...

Innovations

Russian thruster misfire led to a ‘tug of war’ at the International Space Station as crew sought to regain control

NASA says astronauts weren’t in danger, but the space station was knocked off kilter and the launch of Boeing’s Starliner capsule had to be postponed

By Dalvin Brown
July 30, 2021 at 4:08 p.m. EDT

Russian officials on Friday blamed a “software failure” for the unexpected chain of events that on Thursday sent the International Space Station into a spin and forced the postponement of Boeing’s long-awaited relaunch of its uncrewed Starliner space capsule.

The earliest time now for the relaunch, a repeat of a failed December 2019 test mission, is 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, but officials said they were still studying the impact of Thursday’s events before setting a time.

The soccer-field-sized space station had completed about one-eighth of a turn on its axis when ground controllers regained control. NASA officials said they believed the unexpected movement had not physically damaged the station.

A Russian statement quoting Vladimir Solovyov, the flight director of the space station’s Russian segment, called what took place “some modification of the orientation of the complex as a whole.” Joel Montalbano, leader of NASA’s International Space Station program, said the mishap didn’t put anyone’s life in danger.

{snip}

By Dalvin Brown
Dalvin Brown is the Innovations reporter for The Washington Post's Financial section. Twitter https://twitter.com/Dalvin_Brown