Russian Spacecraft Fails to Boost ISS into Higher Orbit

Published: Oct 19, 2005
Source: www.space.com



A Russian spacecraft stopped short of boosting the International Space Station (ISS) into a higher orbit Tuesday when its engines unexpectedly shut down in mid-maneuver, Russian space officials said.

“After the first turn-on of the engines…they turned off spontaneously,” a spokesperson for Russia’s Federal Space Agency told the Interfax News Agency.

The failed orbital maneuver poses no danger to the ISS or its two-astronaut crew, Expedition 12 commander Bill McArthur and flight engineer Valery Tokarev, and engineers are currently studying the glitch, according to a Federal Space Agency statement.

“There is no forecast at the moment as to when they would try again,” NASA spokesperson Rob Navias told SPACE.com from Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. “[But] there’s no urgency to do this.”continue..