10
$\begingroup$

For a spacecraft in low Earth orbit let's call the zenith direction (vector away from Earth) "up".

For most of its life I think the ISS has orbited with it's "up side" pointed "up" and it's "down side" pointed "down". See answers to Does the ISS have a rotational motion in addition to its translational motion?

This answer to Could the ISS stop rotating wrt the stars for a few days, then start again? begins:

I don't think it's happened in a long time, but in the early stages of assembly, the ISS sometimes flew in a "XPH" attitude when the beta angle* was between 10 and 75 degrees.

But let's take this a step farther.

Questions:

  1. Has the ISS ever "flown upside down"?
  2. Has the cupola ever "looked up"?

These are different because the cupola wasn't always present. It would be quite a different experience for ISS crew if the cupola faced a hemisphere of space rather than one with Earth so dominating the view.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
4
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ On 29 July 2021 it did, unintentionally... thanks to the Nauka MLM $\endgroup$
    – blobbymcblobby
    Jan 17, 2022 at 7:59
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @blobbymcblobby write it up! The event is discussed in several other posts here so it will be easy to find supporting links. Just don’t suggest that it was my post three months earlier that gave it the idea! $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Jan 17, 2022 at 8:02
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ lol, rewritten Flight Software had AI that is aware, and read SE three months before its maiden flight... $\endgroup$
    – blobbymcblobby
    Jan 17, 2022 at 8:18
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @blobbymcblobby sounds like a SciFi novel or even a screenplay; I've been waiting for a good plot idea for Stack Exchange, the Movie and maybe this is it! $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Jan 17, 2022 at 9:09

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
4
$\begingroup$

Yes! Unintentionally! On 29 July 2021 at 11:34 am Houston time, after having docked earlier at 8:30 am CT (13:30 UTC), the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module (Upgrade) unexpectedly fired its movement thrusters, and did so for a good 45 minutes.

Well, the answer was well written for another question already, by OP:

No...

But frighteningly, just a short time later it DID

...though this was not a maneuver related to docking, nor was it even planned.

From Gizmodo's The ISS Backflipped Out of Control After Russian Module Misfired, New Details Reveal:

At a press conference held later that day, NASA said the space station shifted by around 45 degrees. “That’s been a little incorrectly reported,” Zebulon Scoville, the NASA flight director in charge at the time, told the New York Times. The actual figure, he said, is closer to 540 degrees, which means the ISS performed 1.5 backflips, in an impromptu performance that would make an Olympic athlete jealous. When the ISS stopped spinning, it was fully upside down, requiring a 180-degree forward flip to regain the outpost’s original position, as the New York Times reports.

enter image description here

Frame from Nauka MLM thrusters incident (29jul2021), a recorded real time video, roughly at the 180 degree mark.

enter image description here

Another frame view, showing it happened when it was just out of daylight.

enter image description here

And a screen grab of the rough position of where it was when the incident began.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.