Russia blames software glitch after space station briefly thrown out of control
According to NASA's account of the incident, the mission flight director immediately declared a spaceflight emergency as engineers on the ground struggled to regain stability of the sprawling research satellite
A software glitch, and possible lapse in human attention, were to blame for throwing the International Space Station out of control, but work was proceeding to activate a newly attached module at the centre of the mishap, Russian space officials said on Friday.
Jet thrusters on the Russian research module Nauka inadvertently reignited on Thursday a few hours after it had docked to the space station, causing the entire orbital outpost to pitch out of its normal flight position some 250 miles above the Earth with seven crew members aboard.
According to NASA's account of the incident, the mission flight director immediately declared a spaceflight emergency as engineers on the ground struggled to regain stability of the sprawling research satellite.
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Attitude control over the station was lost for 45 minutes, as ground-based flight teams activated thrusters on another module of the outpost and on a separate cargo ship previously docked to the complex to restore its proper alignment, NASA told reporters on Thursday.
