The International Space Station (ISS) lost its orientation in space during the testing of the engines of the Soyuz MS-18 manned spacecraft. It is on it that the film crew of the film “Challenge” should return to Earth.
An expert in the space industry explained what this means and named the reasons that could provoke the failure.
Loss of orientation by the station consists in its shift along one of the three axes. The displacement occurs by several degrees and this time it was provoked due to engine testing, which is usually carried out at the command of the MCC.
– Testing of the ship's engines is carried out automatically. The crew must be in the spacecraft at this time, '' an expert on manned astronautics explains to the mk.ru website.
If everything goes according to plan, then short pulses are given to the COURT (traffic control system): “right” – “left”. In this case, a minimum of fuel is spent and tremors for the station are almost invisible.
“There were no short impulses, perhaps for some reason they turned into longer ones, which changed the orientation of the ISS,” the specialist concluded.
There was no strong rotation, but the crew was seriously nervous. This is the station's second unplanned roundabout in three months. Such rotations can have a negative effect on solar panels.
Roskosmos confirmed that the situation was quickly taken under control and the position of the station was restored due to the operation of the engines of one of our ships.
On October 17, on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko will return to Earth.
