ISS tilted after thrusters on Russian craft fired unexpectedly: Report

Moscow, October 17

The International Space Station (ISS) was unexpectedly tilted after a test firing of thrusters on Russia’s Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft continued longer than expected, the media reported.

First reported by the New York Times, the personnel aboard the ISS were never in danger according to a statement from Russia’s Roscosmos space agency.

According to The Verge, ground teams for NASA and Roscosmos were able to regain control of the station about 30 minutes after it lost positioning control at 5.13 a.m. on Friday.

But it is the second such incident aboard the ISS within the past year.

The incident started when cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky was testing the engines aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, which is docked with the station.

A NASA spokesperson told the Times that the Soyuz thruster firing unexpectedly continued past the time when the engine test was supposed to end.

In July, thrusters on Russia’s Nauka module fired “uncontrollably”, reorienting the ISS by about 45 degrees. It took about an hour to regain control, and NASA said at the time such incidents were rare.

A Russian film crew that went up to the ISS on October 5 for a movie shoot has returned to Earth aboard the Soyuz craft that had the thruster incident on Friday.

The spacecraft, carrying Novitsky, actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko, landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday, TASS news agency reported. IANS