The ISS just had some trouble with the Russian Soyuz spacecraft once again, with the module unexpectedly firing its thrusters longer than planned.
According to The Register, this time, the issue happened while the spacecraft was testing its thrusters for a return to Earth.
The trouble occurred at around 5:02 AM on October 15th, when the Soyuz MS-18 craft was preparing to go back to Earth. A NASA update detailed that the capsule's thrusters unexpectedly fired beyond the test window.
As a result, the ISS lost attitude control and was unstable in its orbit. Eventually, though, the space station's flight controller regained attitude control, and has now put the ISS in stable orbit.
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 crew was not in any danger, as per NASA.
This was very similar to what happened when the Nauka spacecraft unexpectedly threw the ISS out of position last July. Just like the MS-18's trouble, the Nauka's thrusters fired up at the most inopportune time while docking.
For this time, however, it was not as serious as the Nauka incident. When that spacecraft tilted the ISS at 45 degrees off orbit, NASA declared it an emergency and had to scramble to get the station back to order.
Read also: ISS Astronauts Find NEW CRACKS in the Space Station's Walls: Is It Due To Retire Soon?
What Was the New Soyuz Module Doing at the ISS?
In a mission far removed from the typical scientific experiments aboard the ISS, the MS-18 capsule's goal was to film a movie.
The Russian spacecraft was carrying the film crew for the movie "The Challenge" ("Vyzov" in Russian), which included actress Yulia Peresild and producer-director Klim Shipenko, alongside Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy.
During the time of the unexpected thruster firing, the module was preparing to head back to Earth after the crew had finished filming their scenes aboard the International Space Station.
"The Challenge" is billed as the first-ever space-based movie which had several scenes shot in actual outer space. It tells the story of a female surgeon (Peresild) who goes to the ISS to perform an operation on a cosmonaut who's too ill to be shipped to a hospital on Earth.
As of this writing, the crew has already returned.
Why Did The MS-18 Module Throw the ISS Off-Orbit?
The International Space Station is always in danger of getting thrown off its orbit. That's because unbeknownst to many people, the station itself is actually in constant free fall.
The only reason why it hasn't fallen out of orbit is, according to Forbes, is that it's moving forward at the same rate that it is falling to Earth. As a result, anything that alters that rate and throws the equilibrium off (like unexpected thruster firing) can literally send the ISS tumbling in orbit.
What's Next?
For now, NASA and Roscosmos are collaborating with each other to discover the cause of the problem. Furthermore, data on the attitude change is being evaluated as of the moment, as a bid to potentially not let something like this happen again.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
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