NASA lost two hours in touch with the ISS

NASA on Tuesday evening lost contact with the International Space Station C due to the malfunction of the data retranstation system ( TDRSS ), according to the website of the American space department.

The ISS vision with American ground stations disappeared approximately 09.45 (18.45 Moscow time). The flight management center in Houston managed to temporarily establish a connection with the crew when the ISS flew over Russian ground stations at about 11.00 (21.00 Moscow time).

Houston flight management experts are now updating software on on -board computers, where the system provides a failure.

The ISS commander American astronaut Kevin Ford said that, with the exception of a malfunction in the communication system, the station is operating in normal mode. In turn, the Russian Center for Flight Management TsNIIMASH said that he did not lose the connection of the International Space Station, RIA Novosti said.

However, we note that the ISS management is completely duplicated by independent management centers in Houston (Tsup-X) and the Korolev (Tsup-M) near Moscow.

Earlier, the Russian TsPU also lost contact with the ISS, including due to damage to the ground cable in November 2012.

Several cases are also known in history, for example, on October 2, 2002, when in Houston, due to the impending hurricane Lily, all systems were disconnected, and the staff were evacuated. Then the flight of the station was ruled only from the Queen.

In the standard mode, control takes place through a complex distributed system from communication satellites, ground -based tracking points (NIPs), cable communication lines and, located in various countries, participants in the ISS program, and national management centers.