The ISS is the only habitable place in the universe besides our planet. The International Space Station is our last home when we travel to the stars. That’s why it means so much to us.
Well, our home in the stars had its fiber optic cable cut because of a power outage on Earth. To put it briefly and succinctly, that’s what happened.
A blackout at the NASA building in Houston disrupted communication between mission control and the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, forcing the space agency to use backup control systems for the first time.
As a consequence of the interruption, mission control lost command, telemetry, and voice communications with the station in orbit.
A power outage that forced the use of Russian technology
The crew was informed of the issue through the Russian communication systems within 20 minutes after the outage occurred.
Joel Montalbano, the program manager for the International Space Station, stated that neither the astronauts nor the station were in any danger at any point, and the backup control systems were able to restore communication to normalcy within 90 minutes.
“It was not an onboard problem. It was purely a ground problem,” he said. “At no time was the crew or the vehicle in danger.”
According to Montalbano, it’s the first time NASA has had to activate these backup systems to take control. He also explained that NASA expected to resolve the issue and return to normal operations by the end of the day.
NASA maintains a backup control center kilometers away from Houston in case of a catastrophe that requires evacuations. However, in Tuesday’s case, flight controllers remained at the mission control center since the lights and air conditioning were still functioning.
Despite tensions between the United States and Russia on Earth, their respective space agencies continue to work together, although Moscow has announced its plans to withdraw from the ISS after 2024 and build its own space station instead.
In February, Moscow launched a rescue spacecraft to the ISS to bring back three stranded crew members after their original capsule was hit by a meteoroid.
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