This article is more than 1 year old
Oops, they did it again – rogue Soyuz spurt gave ISS an attitude problem
Crew successfully de-orbited on Sunday carrying vital payload: footage for a movie shot in space
The International Space Station has again had to compensate for unexpected thrusting by a Russian spacecraft.
Readers may remember that Russia's Nauka module unexpectedly fired its thrusters upon arrival at the ISS in July 2021.
The space station tilted 45 degrees and required restorative action to resume its intended attitude.
Last Friday, something similar occurred.
As detailed in a NASA update, at 5:02am on October 15th the Soyuz capsule docked at the ISS conducted a test of its thrusters ahead of its return to Earth.
- Dozy ISS cosmonauts woken by smoke alarm on eve of 5-hour spacewalk
- Russia's ISS Multipurpose Laboratory Module launches after years sitting on a shelf, immediately runs into issues
- Spacewalk veterans take a trip outside the ISS to pump up the power with new solar arrays
- Wanna feel old? It is 10 years since the Space Shuttle left the launchpad for the last time
That test went, if anything, too well.
"The thruster firing unexpectedly continued after the end of the test window, resulting in a loss of attitude control for the International Space Station at 5:13am," NASA's update states. "Within 30 minutes, flight controllers regained attitude control of the space station, which is now in a stable configuration. The crew was awake at the time of the event and was not in any danger."
The situation was never as severe as the July incident, which was declared an emergency. Investigations are nonetheless underway, with NASA and Russian space agency Roscosmos "collaborating to understand the root cause".
The unplanned burn didn't stop Soyuz MS-18 from heading home on Sunday, with Oleg Novitskiy of Roscosmos, Russian actress Yulia Peresild and Russian producer-director Klim Shipenko aboard.
The Soyuz MS-18 crew ship with three Russian crewmates undocked from the station at 9:14pm ET heading towards a landing on Earth at 12:36am. More... https://t.co/RGulSrcy9M pic.twitter.com/MCQUcsI7rg
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) October 17, 2021
The latter two cosmonauts only spent a dozen days aloft, during which they shot scenes of a film titled "The Challenge". The flick reportedly concerns a cosmonaut who falls ill with a condition that prevents their return to Earth, necessitating an op on the ISS. The footage captured aboard the ISS will become part of the first non-documentary feature shot in space.
Touchdown after 191 days in space for @Novitskiy_ISS and 12 days in space for two Russian filmmakers! More... https://t.co/CrQl3O1BUl pic.twitter.com/kzXlCTr0og
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) October 17, 2021
The Soyuz capsule landed as planned on the steppes of Kazakhstan on Sunday. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
