The reason for the abnormal activation of the engines of the multipurpose laboratory module (MLM) “Science” was the human factor, according to the publication (.pdf) of the journal of the state corporation “Roscosmos” “Russian space”. After docking with the International Space Station (ISS) on July 29, MLM spontaneously turned on the engines, which caused the ISS to turn. Dmitry Rogozin, general director of Roscosmos, explained that the euphoria resulting from the successful docking relaxed the control group a little.
“After docking, it was necessary to” lull “the module by turning off the rendezvous and docking system. But such a command was not issued – and the module, continuing to independently analyze the situation, turned on one of the orientation engines “to retrace”, which led to a turn of the entire station, “- says the publication of” Russian Space “.
Earlier, the internal commission of the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia completed an investigation into the causes of the incident with the Nauka module after docking with the ISS; the materials were transferred to Roskosmos. According to the general designer of the corporation, Vladimir Solovyov, the spontaneous activation of the module's engines and the rotation of the station was not critical.
Read more about the incident in the publication “Kommersant FM” “ISS corrected the orbit.”
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