[ad_1]
Look inside the new Russian space module with cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrovnik, who created a video tour of the new Russian module “Nauka” which docked with the International Space Station last week.
Russian space agency Roscosmos’ Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) – nicknamed “Nauka,” meaning “science” in Russian) – docked at the space station on Thursday, July 29. After docking, the module encountered a software glitch that caused it to accidentally fire its thrusters, causing the space station to temporarily rotate and tilt. However, now that the situation has stabilized, the cosmonauts have finally been able to open the hatch between the two spacecraft and take a peek inside.
The couple captured a video of their trip, which was shared on YouTube on Saturday, July 31, which offers a quick look inside the space station’s newest Russian construction module. Nauka will serve as a science laboratory, a docking port for spacecraft and an airlock for space cosmonauts.
“Pyotr Dubrovnik and I welcome everyone to our new #Nauka module!”, Novitskiy said in a Tweet. “We will be doing a more detailed tour soon.”
Video: The Nauka module hatch has opened on the space station – take a peek inside!
Related: International Space Station at 20: a photo tour
Cosmonauts Novitskiy and Dubrovnik are two of the seven crew members currently working on the space station. They are joined by NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur and Mark Vande Hei; Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet.
Nauka arrived at the orbiting lab at 9:29 a.m. EDT (1:29 p.m. GMT) on July 29 and connected to the Earth-facing port of the Russian service module Zvezda. Novitskiy and Dubrovnik were preparing to open the hatch to Nauka when its thrusters “inadvertently and unexpectedly” triggered at 12:45 p.m. EDT (4:45 p.m. GMT), pushing the station out of orientation, according to a NASA statement.
As a result of the unplanned launch of the thruster, the space station lost what engineers call “attitude control” for about 47 minutes, causing the orbiting lab to tilt from its correct orientation. However, the station was able to recover, with Roscosmos officials citing a short-term software failure as the cause of the thruster misfire.
Novitskiy and Dubrovnik have since started unpacking and configuring the new hardware delivered aboard the spacecraft. A series of spacewalks should be carried out to fully prepare the Nauka module for its space activities.
Follow Samantha Mathewson @ Sam_Ashley13. follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
[ad_2]
Source link