NASA Says Soyuz Thruster Firings Trigger Emergency Alert on ISS

NASA officials said that the thruster firing of Soyuz went wrong as opposed to the original plan. The Russian spacecraft accidentally turned and tilted which prompted the astronauts to launch an emergency alert.

Soyuz Ms-18 Spacecraft Thruster Firing Continues

According to a report by Engadget, the team on the International Space Station (ISS) had to conduct emergency protocols after the incident took place on Friday, Oct. 15.

Soyuz MS-18, the spacecraft set to return to Earth on Sunday morning, Oct. 17, carried three people on board: Klim Shipenko, Yulia Peresild, and Oleg Novitskiy.

At around 5:02 A.M. EDT, the thruster firing began as part of the test.

From NASA's recent blog, the accidental situation has resulted in the loss of control for the ISS. The estimated time when it took place was 5:13 AM EDT.

The space agency added that the altitude control returned to its normal state within 30 minutes. In addition, the officials said that no crew member was harmed at the time of the accident.

At the time of writing, NASA included in the update that the cause of the accidental firing of thrusters still remains undetermined. Roscosmos, the official space agency of Russia, is now seeking where the problem possibly came from.

Previous Accidental Firing of Nauka Module

Russia's Nauka Science Module and the European Robotic Arm (ERA) were lifted off in space last July 21. They were assigned to travel to the space station.

Few days after it arrived at ISS, the accidental firing caused the module to rotate by about 540 degrees. According to the officials, the software glitch had caused the incident on July 29.

The Soyuz Ms-18 is expected to come back to Earth. The schedule for its return will be on Saturday, Oct.16. Upon its landing, it will hit Kazakhstan nearly four hours later, according to Space.com's latest report.

The space module was created in the context of the Zarya Functional Cargo Block. This aims to bring a good design to the transport of the vehicle. It will also give way for future module deliveries and space explorations.

Roscosmos said through this arrival module, the crew members traveling to the ISS would arrive safely. The space agency assured that all of the people on board would have necessities such as oxygen, water, cargo storage, and more.

Russia declared the support for the ISS would continue in the next few years. There could be an extension that will follow, as Roscosmos mentioned earlier.

Soyuz Rocket Releases Cargo to ISS

In June, Russia's spacecraft officially launched the Progress MS-17 capsule to the International Space Station. It was the 54th liftoff of the Soyuz 2.1 s rocket.

Aside from this space launch, Russia has also delivered the Pion NKS intelligence satellite to the ISS. The project was done in line with the Liana program.

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Written by Joseph Henry