Space station situation with Russian module misfire more serious than stated: report

[brooklynite]

Source: Space.com

Last week, a Russian module accidentally pushed the International Space Station out of place. Now, a NASA flight director has revealed that the event was more serious than NASA initially reported.

On Thursday (July 29) morning, Russia's long-awaited research module Nauka docked with the space station. But a few hours later, the module accidentally fired its thrusters, briefly tilting the space station and causing it to lose what engineers call "attitude control."

However, while NASA said on Twitter and officials repeated during public comments about the incident that the orbiting lab tilted about 45 degrees, that appears not to have been the full story. According to reporting by The New York Times, Zebulon Scoville, the NASA flight director leading mission control in Houston during the event, says the station tilted far more severely than just 45 degrees.

According to Scoville, the event has "been a little incorrectly reported." He said that after Nauka incorrectly fired up, the station "spun one-and-a-half revolutions — about 540 degrees — before coming to a stop upside down. The space station then did a 180-degree forward flip to get back to its original orientation," according to the report.

Read more: https://www.space.com/nauka-module-space-station-tilt-more-serious

[wryter2000]

1. Shut it down

Robotic probes give us the most information about space. The space station contributes nothing except to let us think “man” is making progress in space exploration. Until we can truly use something like warp speed “man” is not going farther than the moon. Stop putting humans at risk, and scrap this in favor of “unmanned” explorers.

[alittlelark]

2. + 1000

[wryter2000]

3. Thanks

I was prepared for real resistance

[electric_blue68]

28. No, I just didn't see your post till now. Bots give us good info. Humans ...

...give us our perspective being the eyes, ears and mind(s) for all of us.

Plus humans might put together observations robots can not. Humans have subtlties robots don't have.

As this other poster - blue water said, "Space is hard".

These people know the risks. Of course, they and we hope they won't happen, but they do. 😔

[Happy Hoosier]

30. And you'll get it from me.

Yes, we can get a lot of information robotically. But people like me (who no have a career in Aerospace) don't get inspired by sending robots into space. We seek to expand the reach of humanity. And probes and robots can only do what you make them to do. They are not as flexible or as intuitive as people.

I know some people aren't inspired by these things. Whatever.

Let's reach for the stars.

[wryter2000]

5. With Putin

I’ll see it when it happens

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. Science gets applied at ISS.

I would just kick the Russians out. Let Putin do his own space station. Get the oligarchs, himself included, to pay for it.

[wryter2000]

8. Good idea

I wonder how many would like to put their money behind it.

[Happy Hoosier]

31. I would.

I favor public investment in art and science.

[caraher]

9. The "I" means "International"

That includes the Russians; we do not own it. Five space agencies jointly built and operate, of which NASA is just one (and without the Russians it would have been empty for a very long time after the US retired the Shuttle).

[NullTuples]

10. Many don't realize just how much work & science has been done in the ISS

Everything from providing a reason for the cost/pound to LEO to drop to $1,200, to 14 commercially-operated facilities managed by eight partner companies operational as of 2018 doing research into chemistry, materials science, drugs, biology, etc..

Every few years NASA has published a book tallying the benefits of the ISS because people forget it actually a working research station, similar to say, McMurdo Station, Mauna Loa Observatory (problematic as it is) or the Schneefernerhaus.

[link:https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/b4h-3rd-ed-book|

[link:https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/benefits-for-humanity_third.pdf|

[LunaSea]

11. Perhaps if some actually paid attention

to what's being done at ISS, they'd be less inclined to make ignorant statements.

[JohnSJ]

12. +++

[NurseJackie]

17. +1000

[totodeinhere]

13. You really think that man will never make it to Mars?

If we don't make it to Mars first the Chinese will.

[Aussie105]

15. When you say 'man'

are you excluding the Chinese?

Last time I checked, Chinese people were of the species Homo sapiens, just like you and me.

[Lancero]

18. *eyeroll*

He was referring to the claim that no humans would ever reach Mars, saying that some country eventually will - And, if our own space program is shuttered, it won't be us.

[totodeinhere]

32. Oh come on. Your interpretation of my comment is totally bogus.

Of course Chinese people are homo sapiens. My one fault was using the term "man" instead of mankind or perhaps I should have used a gender neutral term but I don't think there is any way that a reasonable interpretation of my comment would infer that I am suggesting that Chinese are not real people. It looks like you were trying to find any excuse to find fault with my comment.

And the issue of Chinese efforts to become dominant is space is a real one which has been noted several times by Biden Administration officials.

https://www.space.com/us-space-policy-china-russia-biden-administration

[wryter2000]

20. We're already on Mars with robots

And it would be nice to include women in the species

[totodeinhere]

33. My comment should have used a gender neutral term and I apologize for that. n/t

[wryter2000]

34. Thank you!

So many people get defensive

[PJMcK]

14. Perhaps you don't know enough about the ISS

"Shut it down" strikes me as profoundly anti-science. The achievements of astronauts aboard the ISS have been profound.

Further, the platform has fostered some international cooperation.

While I'll agree with you that humans don't need to explore the outer (or inner) planets, low-Earth orbit is quite a different thing.

[LittleGirl]

16. I feel the same nt

[hunter]

24. There's some good science done on the International Space Station.

I don't think natural born humans will ever have a significant presence in space beyond low earth orbit.

Our robots can do more thorough explorations of the solar system then any human in a space suit supported by many tons of life support equipment.

[wryter2000]

25. I could very well be wrong on this point

I guess I was reacting to the fantasy that humans will travel through space. I gather it would be a possibility if we could figure out how to use warps in space to jump great distances, but until that's possible, Star Trek is science fiction.

[hunter]

29. I suspect Faster-Than-Light travel is impossible in this universe and it's a good thing too...

... considering how we humans have treated one another and our own planet.

[orangecrush]

38. Humans are not suited

For life in space.

I sometimes wonder if this is by design, if perhaps the alien version of the U.N. saw what our extraterrestrial ancestors true nature was, greedy, warlike, thieving and murderous, and instead of eradicating us entirely, grafted some DNA onto monkey creatures they found here, thus chaining us forever to the gravity well, unless we evolved enough to become worthy denizens of the galaxy.

We had our chance, and of course we blew it.

We will plunge headfirst into extinction, as we are doing now.

[Lancero]

19. Have a look at the North Korean and Chinese space programs.

Biggest fear is that they're just covers for military development.

Maybe, just maybe, they should have been included in the ISS program so we could, you know, have some sort of oversight into their space programs? Instead we either don't care to invite them, or have told them to eat shit when they try to join.

[EX500rider]

39. N Korea does not have a space program, just a ICBM program. nt

[Steelrolled]

21. "before coming to a stop upside down."

Dear Lord! Did the astronauts all go crashing to the ceiling?

[Hiawatha Pete]

22. Reminds me of when Howard goes to space in Big Bang Theory

Dimitri:
This happens a lot. 9 times out of 10 - no problem.

Howard:
What happens on the 10th time?

Dimitri:
Problem.

[EX500rider]

35. Did you know Mike Massimino on the show is a real astronaut?

Spaceflight experience
STS-109 Columbia (March 1–12, 2002). STS-109 was the fourth Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission. The crew of STS-109 successfully upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope leaving it with a new power unit, a new camera (the Advanced Camera for Surveys), and new solar arrays. STS-109 set a record for spacewalk time with 35 hours and 55 minutes during 5 spacewalks. Massimino performed two spacewalks totaling 14 hours and 46 minutes. STS-109 orbited the Earth 165 times, and covered 4.5 million statute miles in over 262 hours and 10 minutes.[7]

STS-125 Atlantis (May 11–24, 2009) was the final Hubble servicing mission by the Space Shuttle. Atlantis landed in California after stormy weather prevented the shuttle from landing at NASA's home base in Florida as previously planned. During the mission Massimino became the first person to use Twitter in space, writing, "From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!"[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Massimino#Spaceflight_experience

[Hiawatha Pete]

36. I was aware that he was an actual astronaut, but not the details. Thanks for sharing.

Quite impressive.

One of the reasons I always liked Big Bang theory was because of how they incorporate real life personalities into the show.

Mike Massimino:
Don't lose your fruit loops, Fruit Loops.

[bluewater]

23. Space is hard.