Russia’s Nauka module recently docked to the International Space Station. But that’s not the interesting part – just three hours after docking, the module sent the space laboratory off course when it suddenly fired up its thrusters.
Now, the Russian space agency Roscosmos has said that a software issue caused the module to start its thrusters, reports Reuters. The module is believed to have received the command to “withdraw,” sending the orbital outpost rotating away from its usual orientation. Roscosmos has reassured that everything is fine and has worked out well.
Was it really under control?
“Dear friends, I’m reading your numerous comments,” cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy tweeted. “Don’t worry! Our work at the International Space Station to integrate the newly arrived Nauka module continues! Tonight we are going to open the hatches. Will keep you posted!”
NASA also confirmed that the ISS crew was and safe and sound shortly after they reoriented the space laboratory. But during the mishap, experts were unconvinced that things were under control as the space agencies have claimed.
“The crew is now busy balancing the pressure in the Nauka module,” designer general Vladimir Solovyov from the Russian space company Energia told Reuters. “In the afternoon, the crew will open the hatches, enter the module, turn on the necessary means of purifying the atmosphere and begin normal regular work.”
Nauka module replaces Pirs
The Nauka module has replaced the two-decade-old Pirs module aboard the ISS. “The Nauka module was created on the constructive and technological basis of the Zarya Functional Cargo Block employing the experience of designing a transport supply vehicle for the Salyut crewed scientific stations and modules for retrofitting the Mir orbital complex,” the Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a statement.
The module is accompanied by the European Robotic Arm that will work with a new Russian airlock to transfer small payloads from inside to the exterior of the ISS. It will work in tandem with Canadarm2 that is equipped on the US side of the ISS. The robotic arm packs four cameras that it will leverage to inspect the outside of the ISS.
