The US space agency ordered the nine crew members of the International Space Station (ISS, for its acronym in English) take temporary refuge in their capsules, including the Boeing Starlineras a precautionary measure due to the Russian satellite breakup in low Earth orbit.
The satellite that disintegrated was the Russian Resurs-P1, the United States Space Command (USSPACECOM) confirmed this Thursday.
The event occurred when the astronauts were sleeping, at midnight on Wednesday, and lasted just an hour. NASA did not mention which satellite was damaged. It was at 8:45 pm EDT on Wednesday, June 26 that the crew members received orders to take shelter.
The astronauts briefly moved to three spaceships, including Boeing’s Starliner, a 4.5 meter wide capsule. It has not been able to return to Earth since June 14 as planned with its crew of two astronauts, due to helium leaks.
The spacecraft lifted off June 5 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carrying Flight Commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Flight Pilot Sunita “Suni” Williams. They arrived at the ISS a day later. The flight was part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which seeks to certify Boeing spacecraft to perform routine missions to and from the ISS. Although the original return date was June 14, the crew does not have a set date to return to Earth.
The POT and Boeing They have made sure that, given the delay, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are not in danger. They have enough supplies in orbit, plus the station has a relatively free schedule until mid-August.
On the other hand, the crew of the call Expedition 71 NASA’s crew members headed off to their three spacecraft shortly after 02:00 GMT, NASA said on social media, when the accident occurred “at an altitude close to that of the station.” The expedition began on April 5, 2024, and will end in September of the same year. NASA said the crew will explore neurodegenerative diseases and therapies, space botany, fluid changes caused by space, and algae-based life support systems.
Members of Expedition 71 are Commander Oleg Kononenko, and flight engineers Nikolai Chub, Tracy C. Dyson, Mike Barratt, Matthew Dominick, Jeanette Epps and Alexander Grebenkin.
According to NASA, the procedure for the satellite failure was a “standard precautionary measure”. Now, the crew is back performing their routine tasks. “Mission Control continued to monitor the path of the debris and, after approximately one hour, the crew was cleared to exit their spacecraft and the station resumed normal operations,” NASA said.
The International Space Station not only brings together international flight crews, but also multiple launch vehicles, globally distributed flight and launch operations, training, engineering, development facilities and communications networks. It seems that the accident has not interrupted preparations for the next spacewalk on the ISS, which is scheduled for next week. According to NASA, these continue. At the same time, orbit residents are rebuilding advanced plumbing equipment and repairing scientific and video hardware.
(With information from EFE)
