14 DAY TRIAL // Over recent weeks, a large number of false alarms have prompted Mission Controls in Houston, the US, and in Russia to wake up astronauts while they were sleeping on the space station, and to put them on alert about possible impacts. The International Space Station's (ISS) orbit is currently taking the facility more and more into the flight path of various micro-asteroids and space junk, which pose a high risk to the structural integrity of the scientific outpost. Astronauts need to be on the lookout at all times, so that they could get to the Soyuz capsules, which act as lifeboats at this point.
The spacecrafts hold three passengers each, and there are six permanent ISS crew members aboard the station at all times. The rise in numbers, from three to six astronauts, prompted the Russian space agency RosCosmos to deliver a new spaceport to the facility. Earlier this month, the Mini Research Module 2 (MRM-2), also known as Poisk, made its way to the station, and docked on it flawlessly. The new structure increases the number of Russian spaceports to four. Two of them are permanently occupied by Soyuz spacecrafts, while the other two allow for the docking of a Progress resupply Syouz capsule, and another Soyuz, in case of emergency.
While some fear that the constant pressure astronauts are in could take a toll on their mental health, they argue that no one can bear the idea that his or her life may literally end any moment. But the crew of the station, and the six Atlantis astronauts that are currently in orbit as part of the STS-129 assembly flight, say that they are completely unaffected by this. “I think they're still trying to get the full comprehensive story together. I think they've got a pretty good idea of what happened, but it wasn't really that big of a deal,” Atlantis commander Charlie Hobaugh said, quoted by Space.
“The crew was never in any danger,” NASA revealed in a statement. The Russian Mission Control also said that, during the latest incident, the crew was woken up as a precautionary measure, and that the space junk that got everyone worried zapped past the station at a very safe distance. “It was kind of fun to get everybody together and say, 'Hey, what's going on?' and we went back to sleep, so not a big deal,” Hobaugh added. The shuttle, which carries two massive containers filled with spare parts for the station, is scheduled to end its 11-day mission and to return home on November 27.