Russia rocket mishap briefly nudges International Space Station out of position

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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.

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