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The struggling Russian laboratory module Nauka caused a fright when its rockets were accidentally fired after docking with the International Space Station, briefly throwing the station out of position.
Hours after docking, Nauka’s propellants triggered unexpectedly, forcing personnel aboard the ISS to fire thrusters at the Russian segment of the station to counter the effect.
The module began to fire “inadvertently and unexpectedly, moving the station 45 degrees out of attitude,” NASA said on Twitter. “The recovery operations have recovered and the crew is not in danger.”
Russian space agency Roscosmos attributed the problem to Nauka’s engines having to run on residual fuel in the craft, Tass news agency reported.
The mission comes after more than a decade of delays and as Russia seeks to boost its space industry, which has fallen behind since the collapse of the Soviet Union and struggles to keep up with competition from the states- United.
The Nauka module took off last week from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carried by a Russian Proton rocket, and represents the first Russian docking of an ISS module in 11 years.
Earlier, Roscosmos showed the new addition to its segment of the ISS docking at port nadir (facing Earth) of the Zvezda service module at 1329 GMT. “There is contact !!!” Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin tweeted.
It will now take several months and several spacewalks to fully integrate the module into the space station.
The launch was closely monitored by the European Space Agency as the module traveled with the European robotic arm, the first robotic arm that will be able to operate on the Russian segment of the ISS.
Nauka – which means “science” in Russian – will be used primarily for research and storage of laboratory equipment. It will also offer more storage space, new water and oxygen regeneration systems and improved living conditions for cosmonauts in the Russian sector of the ISS.
The Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module was designed as early as the mid-1990s when it was intended to serve as a support for the Russian Zarya Control Module.
It was later reused as a science module, but joined a series of stagnant Russian space projects that fell victim to funding issues or bureaucratic procedures.
The launch of the 20-ton Nauka – one of the largest modules on the ISS – was originally scheduled for 2007, but has been repeatedly delayed due to various issues.
While last week’s launch was a success, Nauka experienced several “hiccups in orbit” during its eight-day trip to the ISS, the European Space Agency said.
“We will not lie… We must have been worried for the first three days,” Rogozin told reporters after Nauka docked, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
Nauka replaces the long-standing Pirs docking module, which joined the ISS in 2001 as a temporary addition but ended up remaining in service for two decades.
Making way for Nauka, Pirs detached from the ISS earlier this week, his burnt remains fall into the Pacific Ocean.
Launched in 1998 and involving Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan and the European Space Agency, the ISS is one of Russia’s last collaborations with the West.
In April, Russia said it was considering withdrawing from the ISS program citing aging infrastructure and planned to launch the first base module of a new orbital station in 2025.
Russia has announced a series of plans in recent years, including a mission to Venus and a station on the moon, but as the Kremlin diverts funds to military projects, analysts question the feasibility of those ambitions.
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