Orbital outpost’s orientation restored after brief fault, crew not in danger — space firm

The station’s orientation was impacted in the course of testing the thrusters of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/. The International Space Station (ISS) has restored its normal position after it briefly moved out of its orientation testing the engines of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft and the crew is not in danger, the Energia Space Rocket Corporation (part of Russia’s federal space agency Roscosmos) told TASS on Friday.

"In the course of testing the thrusters of the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, the station’s orientation was impacted. As a result, the ISS temporarily moved out of its orientation," Energia said.

The orbital outpost’s orientation was promptly restored by the staff of the ISS Russian Segment’s main flight control group, the space rocket corporation specified.

"The station and the crew are not endangered," it stressed.

Currently, 10 crewmembers are working aboard the ISS: Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky, Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov, actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko, NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.

Three of the crewmembers, Novitsky, Peresild and Shipenko, will come back to Earth aboard the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft on October 17.