Arrival of space station crew delayed by glitch
Print Edition
A software glitch on a Russian spacecraft heading to the International Space Station has delayed the arrival of three astronauts, including an American. NASA said the crew was in no danger, and the US-Russia space partnership was strong despite tensions over Ukraine.
The Soyuz spacecraft carrying Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev and NASA’s Steve Swanson blasted off early yesterday and was scheduled to dock six hours later. But because of the glitch, the arrival was pushed back until late today.
Since the 2011 retirement of the United States space shuttle fleet, NASA has depended on the Russian spacecraft to ferry crews to the orbiting outpost and is paying Russia nearly US$71 million per seat. This cooperation has continued despite tensions with Russia over Ukraine’s Crimea and amid US calls for sanctions on Russia.
The Soyuz booster rocket lifted off as scheduled at 3:17am local time yesterday from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It entered a designated orbit about 10 minutes after the launch and was expected to reach the space station in six hours. All onboard systems were working flawlessly, and the crew was feeling fine.
NASA and Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency, said shortly before the planned docking that the arrival had been delayed after a 24-second engine burn that was necessary to adjust the Soyuz spacecraft’s orbiting path “did not occur as planned.”
The crew is in no danger, but will have to wait until today for the Soyuz TMA-12M to arrive and dock at the space station, NASA said.
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