New Russian module de-stabilizes International Space Station: What you need to know

Picture Courtesy: NASA

The newly docked Russian module, Nauka, caused the ISS to de-stabilize today when its thrusters were fired up inadvertently and unexpectedly. The new module docked with ISS on Thursday after much delay.

NASA quickly corrected the altitude and was done by activating thrusters on another module of the ISS. The investigation as to why the thrusters of the new module fired up is underway.

Currently, there are seven astronauts at the ISS. According to the official statement, none of the crew members were in any kind of danger. The crew did lose contact with NASA for a brief amount of time. This incident has delayed the launch of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft to the ISS from 30 July to at least 3 August.

The new module has given a significant boost to inhabitable volume for the ISS. About the incident, NASA said, "Mission control teams corrected the action and all systems are operating normally. The module's thrusters started firing at 12:45 pm ET (16:45 GMT) inadvertently and unexpectedly, moving the station 45 degrees out of attitude".”