♪ ♪
NARRATOR: Earth.
Over eight billion people live here.
But not all of them are home.
Since the turn of the century,
a few have been living here...
♪ ♪
...in the most hazardous scientific outpost ever built:
the International Space Station.
♪ ♪
Altogether, over 280 people
have ridden a controlled explosion
250 miles into space,
risking their lives
to maintain a continuous human presence off planet.
One day, we may be getting ready for a spacewalk
and the next day, we'll be doing some world-class science.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: Its unique environment provides a research laboratory
like no other.
But conducting science in space
brings its own challenges.
RAJA CHARI: Very quickly, you can have an out-of-control situation
from a very innocuous start.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: As astronauts push
the boundaries of science and exploration,
they face daily threats.
(over radio): CO2 sensor bad.
MAN: Copy, Luca.
LUCA PARMITANO: You are constantly at risk of dying
for a multitude of reasons.
♪ ♪
WENDY LAWRENCE: You've got orbital debris
that can hit your module
and put a hole in it.
♪ ♪
CHRIS CASSIDY: In the military,
we say that problems happen
at the fold of a map and at night.
And that's exactly how this was shaping up.
ZEBULON SCOVILLE: How do we respond
to that unknown?
Understanding situations
may have the ultimate consequences.
(alarm beeping) MAN (over radio): Station, Houston on 2.
This is an actual.
NARRATOR: This is the story of innovation
and scientific exploration
aboard the I.S.S.
"Operation Space Station:
Science and Survival."
Right now, on "NOVA."
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: June 2024.
The world is gripped by a drama playing out far above Earth.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams
had been scheduled to spend just eight days
aboard the International Space Station
while testing a new commercial spacecraft,
the Boeing Starliner.
WILLIAMS (over radio): Into the spacecraft!
NARRATOR: Instead, when the vehicle encounters technical issues,
their mission stretches into months.
Despite the difficulties,
the pair pivots to become routine crew members,
drawing from their years of training
and a deep love of the job
to embrace their extended mission.
Because this job is like no other.
We're still pioneers in space,
so there's still a lot that we have to learn.
(over radio): Okay, my yellow hook,
closed and locked.
NARRATOR: Space is incredibly risky.
The safest thing to do is to not go anywhere,
but that's not going to really teach you much
about your species or the planet you live on.
You have to take risk to get the reward.
NARRATOR: Butch and Suni's extended stay
is just the latest in a long line
of unexpected challenges faced in orbit.
MAN (over radio): And lift off.
The International Space Station
is underway.
NARRATOR: Since the space station's first module
was launched in 1998,
there have been countless moments of risk and uncertainty.
ROBERT CURBEAM (over radio): There's ammonia all over the place.
NARRATOR: Requiring calm and quick thinking to resolve.
TOM JONES (over radio): You just pulled the bail?
CURBEAM: Yeah.
And that stopped the leak.
NARRATOR: All to create a unique research laboratory,
a platform for international science and discovery
through cooperation,
uniting humanity in the pursuit of knowledge
beyond our planet.
♪ ♪
From monitoring hurricanes on Earth
to cultivating plants in space.
From detecting X-rays released by neutron stars
to developing cancer therapeutics.
RENITA FINCKE: We have taken technologies,
people, systems from all over the world,
and we've put it together into this amazing laboratory.
♪ ♪
The research that we've been able to do
has directly benefited life on planet Earth,
and we're only just getting started.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: Every minute of an astronaut's day on the station
is carefully planned,
and life on board might even come to feel routine.
But it's always just a matter of time
before the universe finds a way to remind the crew
of just how vulnerable they are.
♪ ♪
In 2013, plans are underway to further extend
the International Space Station's scientific footprint.
A new module called Nauka,
Russian for "science,"
is to be added to the station the following year.
Created to conduct
materials science and biotechnology research,
Nauka includes a base for the European Robotic Arm
and will also feature a specially designed airlock
to carry out experiments in the vacuum of space.
♪ ♪
But to unlock this groundbreaking science,
astronauts must brave the most unforgiving extremes.
CASSIDY: In my personal operational experience in the military,
in the SEAL teams,
the bad guys were the enemy that's shooting at you.
In a space mission, the "bad guy"
is the environment.
♪ ♪
The environment is trying to kill you.
PARMITANO: Space is not really made for life.
It's very cold and very hot at the same time.
It doesn't have an atmosphere.
It really doesn't want to keep you alive.
NARRATOR: A spacewalk,
also known as an extra-vehicular activity, or E.V.A.,
is especially dangerous.
Astronauts usually go through the airlock in pairs
so that once outside,
they can assist each other if needed.
But still, they are isolated
and vulnerable to hazards like radiation,
micrometeoroid impacts,
and equipment malfunctions.
On July 16, 2013,
American astronaut Chris Cassidy
and flight engineer Luca Parmitano
don their spacesuits.
Spacewalks are not something that you just
willy-nilly do-- "Hey, it's Tuesday.
You want to go out and knock out a spacewalk?"
No, it doesn't work like that.
Takes about four hours
to go through the oxygen pre-breathe process
and all of the checks leading up
to opening the hatch.
(over radio): All right, I have a waist tether,
gate closed and locked.
(voiceover): All spacewalkers
are tethered to the space station
with a retractable metal cable
that pays out to 85 feet.
And just like if you walk a pair of dogs on dog leashes,
those leashes get all tangled up.
PARMITANO (over radio): On my way.
CASSIDY (voiceover): Safety tethers are no different.
So, oftentimes,
we intentionally take separate routes,
so the safety tethers
don't tangle up on themselves.
NARRATOR: Luca and Chris come together
on top of the Tranquility module
to carry out their task:
connecting data and ethernet cables
for when the new module arrives.
38 minutes into the E.V.A.,
a warning alarm is triggered in Luca Parmitano's spacesuit.
The carbon dioxide levels are too high.
PARMITANO (over radio): CO2 sensor bad.
MAN: Copy, Luca.
It measures 48.6.
CASSIDY: Copy that, Luca.
(exhales)
NARRATOR: Ordinarily, exhaled carbon dioxide
would be controlled and removed
by the Portable Life Support System
in Luca's backpack.
The alarm could signal
a dangerous buildup of the gas
inside his spacesuit,
which could lead to severe headaches,
impaired judgment,
and even death.
PARMITANO (voiceover): We have a checklist
telling us to check different parts of the suit
to understand whether it is an actual alarm
or whether the sensor itself is at fault.
CASSIDY: It said, "Did the reading go from normal
to ludicrous instantly?"
If that happened, then it's probably the sensor's bad.
MAN (over radio) And Luca, nice work on the cuff checklist,
but no further action on your part.
NARRATOR: Doubtful of the carbon dioxide reading
and satisfied that Luca has no symptoms,
Mission Control concludes that the sensor is faulty,
and the E.V.A. can continue as planned.
(static hisses)
But six minutes later,
Luca calls Mission Control again:
there's another issue.
PARMITANO (over radio): F.Y.I.,
I feel a lot of water on the back of my head.
MAN: Are you sweating? Are you working hard?
PARMITANO: Um,
I am sweating,
but feels like a lot of water.
MAN: Yeah, Luca, we copy. MAN: Copy.
PARMITANO: Just F.Y.I.
(voiceover): There should never be
any water inside your space suit,
especially not in the, in the helmet area,
and so I communicated that to the ground.
(chuckling): And I said, "I don't think it's a big deal."
I just wanted to keep going with the E.V.A.
MAN (over radio): Hey, Luca, while you're working there,
can you give us, uh,
maybe some more words on the water?
Um, maybe identify the source, do you think,
and then, is it getting any worse
or is it the same?
PARMITANO: Um, good questions.
It's still the same,
and I cannot tell you the source.
NARRATOR: On Earth,
water falls under the force of gravity.
In space, it's much less predictable.
CASSIDY: It's surface tension
that drives the behavior of water.
That surface tension is a pretty strong force,
and the water just wants to stick
to whatever it's stuck to.
NARRATOR: In Luca's case,
the unexplained ball of water
is sticking to the back of his head
and threatening to creep around toward his face.
PARMITANO: My biggest concern
was the water getting inside my ears.
(static hisses)
Because if it did, it's really hard to get it out.
You cannot tap your head-- there's nothing you can do.
(static hisses)
CASSIDY: I finished what I was doing
and got over close to him, and I remember,
I could see, it looked like
half of a grapefruit just kind of jiggling
on his head.
(Parmitano panting softly)
CASSIDY: And then little bitty pieces
of water droplets moving around inside.
(on radio): I see beads of sweat.
PARMITANO: No, it's not sweat.
CASSIDY: Oh, it's not sweat.
MAN: Hey, Luca, can you clarify,
is it increasing or not increasing?
PARMITANO: It's hard to tell,
but it feels like a lot of water.
CASSIDY: Oh, I see, yes.
I see it now, wiggling.
PARMITANO: And, um, I, I can't, don't understand
where it's coming from-- it can't be the water...
CASSIDY: It has to be the bag.
NARRATOR: At the European Space Agency,
astronaut instructor Hervé Stevenin
watches a live feed of the mission.
(Stevenin speaking French)
(translated): They thought it might be
the small water bag that the astronauts carry.
There is a small bag
which is attached to the stomach with Velcro
and contains around one to one-and-a-half liters of water.
This has a little straw,
to enable the astronaut to stay hydrated.
CASSIDY (over radio): And you've sucked it dry?
PARMITANO: Okay, the bag is dry now.
NARRATOR: But the situation doesn't improve.
CASSIDY: The bag is empty now.
And, uh, you know, there's something
less than a liter in the back of his head.
800 milliliters, maybe.
MAN: All right, Chris.
NARRATOR: More water collects in Luca's helmet.
PARMITANO: Yeah, I'm thinking that it might not be the water bag.
The only other option, Chris, that I'm thinking
is the LCVG.
NARRATOR: The LCVG,
or Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment,
circulates cold water in the spacesuit
via a system of tubes
to prevent astronauts from overheating.
As Chris and Luca correctly suspect,
Luca's LCVG has malfunctioned
and is leaking water into his helmet.
The very suit designed to protect him
from the dangers of space
may now be putting him in mortal danger.
CASSIDY: That's the moment, I think,
where it solidified in everybody's mind,
"Okay, we're done for today."
NARRATOR: 67 minutes into the E.V.A.,
Mission Control terminates the spacewalk.
MAN (over radio): All right, Chris and Luca, just for you guys,
we think we're are gonna terminate E.V.A. case for EV2.
So, Luca, we'll have you head back to the airlock.
Chris, we'll get a plan for you
to clean things up here
and then join him in a minute.
NARRATOR: Luca needs to get back inside the space station
and remove his helmet.
He begins retracing his route
back to the airlock,
while Chris clears away their tools.
PARMITANO: I remember leaving Chris,
and as I made the corner and disappear from sight,
I remember thinking
that I really wish that Chris could come with me,
because that's how we train.
We train to be together-- that's why we go outside
as a team, so that we have each other's back.
CASSIDY: Before I saw Luca disappearing
behind the Z1 truss...
And I wanted to say out loud,
"Luca, stop, hold on, I'm coming with you."
It just felt like that's what we should do.
NARRATOR: But as tempting as it is to hurry,
Chris follows orders
and forces himself to move deliberately.
In the military, we say that problems happen
at the fold of a map,
at the junction of grid squares,
and at night.
And that's exactly how this was shaping up.
As soon as he started to move,
the sun set.
PARMITANO: And everything turns gold, bright gold,
for one split second.
Incredibly beautiful,
and then it's lights out.
(static hisses)
(static hisses, water drips on radio)
NARRATOR: The I.S.S. takes around 90 minutes
to orbit the Earth.
For half this time,
the space station is in total darkness.
(static hisses, water drips on radio)
CASSIDY: Now, once Luca started to move,
well, what happened to his motion,
it gets transferred into the water, too,
so that stationary jiggly ball of Jell-O
starts flushing around his head.
♪ ♪
PARMITANO: I felt it coming closer and closer to my forehead
and I thought, "Okay, this might cover
"both of my ears at the same time.
"It may be more than a simple hindrance.
It may be an actual, an actual problem."
And I just completed a maneuver
where I put myself upside down,
so all my terms of reference
had completely switched 180 degrees.
That's when the water really completely covered my nose...
...and I found myself isolated,
unable to see anything,
unable to breathe through my nose.
I didn't really know how much time I had
before the water reached my mouth.
NARRATOR: If too much water covers both Luca's nose and mouth,
he'll be unable to breathe
or drink his way out of trouble.
(radio static hissing)
And to make matters worse,
water enters Luca's comms,
causing it to malfunction.
PARMITANO (over radio): Hey, Chris?
CASSIDY: I hear you, Luca, go ahead.
(radio static hissing)
Luca, I hear you. PARMITANO: Chris?
Yeah...
(radio static hissing)
(translated): There are two mics here, and when Luca talked,
all we could hear were gurgling sounds.
This was terrifying to hear for us here in the control room.
At this stage, we realized
that something serious had happened,
very bad and very dangerous.
(water bubbling)
My memories are of just
trying to feel around,
making sure that I would grab the correct handles
in a pressurized glove,
which gives you no feedback, no tactile feedback.
And I called Chris, telling him,
"Hey, Chris, I, I think I'm a bit lost,"
but nothing came out,
and I, I didn't have any return in my earphones,
so I knew that he couldn't hear me.
(water bubbling)
And at the time, my thoughts were,
"Okay, I don't think Chris is going
"to come and get me right away.
How much time do I have?"
That was my thought in my head.
"How much time do I have
before this helmet fills up with water?"
There was a risk
that if the water increased dramatically,
I would drown in space.
NARRATOR: For the next five minutes,
Luca will be completely silent and alone.
♪ ♪
(water drips)
CASSIDY: He had the amazing presence about himself,
when everything kind of went dark and silent,
to just stop.
(water bubbling)
NARRATOR: At that point, Luca remembers
he is tethered to the space station's airlock.
STEVENIN (translated): His cable extends
all the way along the route, creating a safety line.
If the astronaut were to float off into space,
this cable would slowly pull them back towards the airlock.
(speaking French)
CASSIDY: That tether has a little three- or five-pound pull to it,
and he waited to feel the direction of that pull.
And then he just put his hand over
and grabbed the next piece of metal that he could find,
and inched his way back that way.
Unbelievable awareness by Luca.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: The gentle tug of the waist tether
leads Luca back to the airlock.
But he's not safe yet.
Before he can take his helmet off,
the airlock must be sealed and repressurized.
With no time to waste,
the I.S.S. crew runs through their checklist.
Five minutes later,
Chris joins Luca, squeezing in feet first.
CASSIDY: The only thing that mattered at that point
was the hatch being closed.
Because if we couldn't close the hatch,
we couldn't get good air pressure.
If we couldn't get air pressure,
we couldn't get Luca's helmet off,
and we can't get Luca's helmet off,
pretty soon, he's not going to have
air in his helmet to breathe.
NARRATOR: With Luca's comms malfunctioning
and water now obscuring his vision,
Chris must ready the airlock
before crewmate Karen Nyberg can repressurize it.
(man speaking faintly on radio)
As they speed through
the normally 15-minute-long airlock procedure,
Ground Control attempts to check in with Luca.
MAN (over radio): Hey, Luca, from Houston.
How you doing? Give us a status.
(water bubbling)
NARRATOR: But there is still no response.
CASSIDY: Luca, do you hear that?
(water bubbling)
NARRATOR: The pair are positioned head-to-foot,
making it difficult for Chris to see into Luca's helmet.
(static hissing)
CASSIDY (over radio): Shane, I don't think he can, uh...
His voice is going out or you,
he can't hear you, but...
I'm trying to see him.
Right about then, I grabbed his hand.
(over radio): Squeeze my hand if you're fine, Luca.
(static hisses)
Luca, squeeze my hand.
Everything okay?
You okay?
And we had never pre-briefed this,
never talked about it,
but I squeezed his hand.
(static hisses)
(over radio): Roger that.
Shane, visually confirmed,
he's doing okay.
♪ ♪
Sorry to my wife, but,
there'd been never a more comforting
squeeze back of a hand.
♪ ♪
That sensation of feeling his hand squeeze back
in a nice, controlled way
was, like, "Okay, we're going to be all right."
(over radio): He looks fine.
He looks miserable, but,
uh, okay.
MAN: Copy all, Chris, uh,
we'll just status you from now on to check on him.
(Cassidy's mic crackling)
CASSIDY: 14 PSI, Karen.
NYBERG: Hatch coming open.
(static hissing)
MAN: Airlock, Houston.
Uh, if you could have some towels ready,
that would be great.
NYBERG: We have them here.
PARMITANO (voiceover): As my crewmates from the inside
were opening the hatch, I looked up,
and I could see Karen, Karen Nyberg's face,
and Fyodor.
The whole crew had come into the airlock to help me,
and their faces,
they were so worried.
CASSIDY (over radio): Hatch is open, Shane.
Luca's going through the airlock.
MAN: Copy, Chris, thanks.
The sense of friendship, camaraderie,
it's a form of love that,
that we should explore more, I think.
♪ ♪
I could feel it, I could sense it,
I could see it on their faces, and I was moved.
MAN (over radio): Okay, Chris, just hang tight for a bit.
Once we get Luca taken care of, we'll work on you.
CASSIDY: No problem, I'm in no rush.
I got a ringside seat.
PARMITANO (voiceover): I was obviously relieved.
I knew that the ordeal
was just about to end
when they took the helmet off.
♪ ♪
I was all smiles,
and I started cracking jokes.
They were certainly happy to see me.
I was certainly happy to see them.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: A thorough investigation
reveals that a clogged filter
led to the leak in Luca's suit.
To ensure that astronauts can keep breathing
if such a thing happens again,
NASA has an absorbent pad and even a makeshift snorkel
installed into each helmet.
♪ ♪
The way water behaves in space
is just one aspect of microgravity,
which is one-millionth the gravitational pull
experienced on Earth.
And it's what helps keep the space station in orbit.
♪ ♪
It's a challenge to live and work in microgravity,
but it also allows for groundbreaking studies
to be carried out on the I.S.S.
♪ ♪
Biomedical experiments in space
reveal that in microgravity,
protein crystals form more uniformly, with fewer defects.
JENNIFER BUCHLI: They tend to be higher quality.
They tend to be purer and larger.
And so, this has really been a great application
for the pharmaceutical industry.
NARRATOR: A team of Japanese researchers
has taken advantage of the I.S.S.'s Kibo laboratory
to investigate proteins associated
with Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy...
...a severe genetic disorder
causing progressive muscle weakness.
BUCHLI: That series of experiments were really successful
in finding some of the crystals associated with those proteins
that they weren't able to do on the ground,
and develop drugs to target those.
NARRATOR: Other experiments focus on the astronauts themselves
and the impact the microgravity environment
has on their bodies.
A vital area of research
if humanity is to venture farther out into space.
And we give periodic samples of blood
and urine and saliva, and, in some cases, number two
to test all of the different outcomes on the body.
PARMITANO: We are both the conductors and the test subjects.
We don't like the term "guinea pigs"
because, uh, because we're not,
but we are subjects of the same, of the same kind of experiments.
♪ ♪
In the end, we are interesting in, what can we glean
from performing science on the human body in space
that we cannot on the ground?
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: Every part of the space station is crucial
to conduct this science
and maintain the lives of its inhabitants.
All the things we might take for granted here on Earth--
air, water, food--
have to be designed, calculated, and engineered
to work properly in microgravity.
Even using the toilet.
CASSIDY: Close the lid.
CASSIDY (voiceover): You gotta be able to use all of your facilities,
whether it's the bathroom
or the air conditioning or the water processor.
All of those systems are there for a reason,
because you need them.
Let's take a peek at the process.
NARRATOR: With so little gravity, space toilets use air flow
to pull urine and feces away from the body
and into the proper receptacles.
And this valve is what activates
the whole system.
(voiceover): Going number one,
you feel pretty confident with that.
You're effectively just turning on a fan,
opening a valve, and, and peeing.
In good NASA fashion, we have a checklist.
This is called procedure 2.301,
and in case things go wrong...
Going number two is a little bit more...
Yeah, you, you really reread every little line.
There's a plastic liner in there, where your deposit goes.
If you make the mess, you got to clean up the mess.
So you don't want to be that one.
You take this red tab, you pull it off the rim,
and we do have a, a stick, and you push it down in there.
And then it's time to put a new bag on.
Ready to go.
(toilet flushing)
NARRATOR: But the toilets are vital
to the International Space Station in more ways than one.
CASSIDY (voiceover): Water is life.
Water is life on Earth.
Water is life on the International Space Station.
Every drop of water,
whether it's your urination,
whether it's your sweaty T-shirt from exercise,
the moisture in our breath as we exhale,
all of that moisture gets captured
by the Environmental Control System
and put back into the water processor.
NARRATOR: This fundamental part of the space station's
Environmental Control and Life Support System
allows the I.S.S. to recycle 98% of the water
that a crew brings along at the start of a mission.
CASSIDY: Every now and then, as you're filling your coffee bag,
you think, "Wait a minute,
this was yesterday's coffee, and it's also today's coffee,"
but the, the system works really well,
and you get alarms long before
it, it is anything but pure water.
NARRATOR: While the systems on board are designed
to keep the crew alive,
it is the responsibility of the crew
to maintain the space station itself,
a fundamentally symbiotic relationship.
Neither could survive for long periods in space
without the other.
The I.S.S.
is the largest human-made structure in orbit ever built,
with a surface area of well over 100,000 square feet
exposed to the hostile environment of space.
One of the dangers in space that's outside the vehicle
are what we call micrometeoroids.
So those can come from a number of sources.
LAWRENCE: Bits of cosmic dust
traveling at a tremendously high speed
can hit the shell of your module and put a hole in it.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: Impact tests conducted on the ground
reveal the destructive force of high-velocity particles,
some no larger than a grain of sand.
Incoming particles can reach speeds
of up to 162,000 miles per hour,
up to 50 times faster than a speeding bullet.
The I.S.S. has survived
several direct hits to its solar panels
and to the Canadarm2.
MICHAEL LÓPEZ-ALEGRÍA: The smaller pieces cause problems
because they're going very fast.
So you multiply a very small number, which is the mass,
times a very big number, which is the velocity,
that's where you get the problem.
NARRATOR: The result is that even the tiniest particles can pack
a huge punch.
To defend the space station,
more than 100 shields protect the critical components.
A common kind is a stuffed Whipple shield...
...a multi-layered system of metal and synthetic materials,
which can break up smaller meteoroids,
dispersing their energy.
KWATSI ALIBARUHO: Russian modules tend to have
thicker ribs and thinner skin.
So from a probabilistic perspective,
the Russian modules are much more susceptible
to small micrometeoroid penetrations.
On the flip side, the U.S. modules have
very, very thick skin.
So smaller micrometeoroids
are not likely to penetrate the U.S. module.
NARRATOR: But micrometeoroids aren't the only threat.
LÓPEZ-ALEGRÍA: Increasingly,
it's orbital debris that comes from something human-made.
So a screw, a paint fleck, a rocket body--
I mean, it could be anything, right?
LAWRENCE: There are so many more objects in space.
There may be bits of derelict satellites
that approach your orbit.
NARRATOR: With low Earth orbit becoming more crowded by the day,
the probability of catastrophic collision increases.
CHARI: The good thing about low Earth orbit is,
we've seen this huge boom
of private companies and commercialization,
and it's everywhere.
Now, the bad thing is,
there's lots of old pieces of stuff out there,
whether it's spent launch vehicles,
whether it's dead satellites.
NARRATOR: Protecting the I.S.S. now poses a unique challenge.
Today, more than 15,000 pieces of space debris
are tracked in low Earth orbit, where the I.S.S. resides,
including fragments of used rockets
and decommissioned satellites
that, with no way to regulate their temperature,
repeatedly expand and contract,
until they break up or sometimes even explode.
And these are just the objects we are able to track,
those larger than four inches.
Add in smaller fragments,
and the total number of debris particles
is estimated to be in the millions.
Each fragment can go on to hit more objects,
creating exponentially more fragments and more collisions.
A potential nightmare for Mission Control.
The bigger pieces we track pretty well.
And we do debris avoidance maneuvers sometimes,
because we know that there is a potential collision.
NARRATOR: In 2021, Russia launched an anti-satellite missile,
deliberately destroying one of its own defunct satellites.
The impact created a massive cloud of high-velocity debris
hurtling through low Earth orbit.
Although the initial pass missed the station,
the danger was far from over.
Subsequent orbits of the wreckage
required Mission Control to carry out avoidance maneuvers
to keep the I.S.S. out of harm's way.
But rogue impactors aren't always the problem.
Every maneuver, every docking,
is painstakingly planned and monitored
by the folks at Mission Control.
And during these tightly coordinated movements
of the space station,
controllers must be ready for the unexpected.
TRANSLATOR (over radio): The range is three meters.
(man speaking Russian)
TRANSLATOR: Range...
(man speaking Russian)
TRANSLATOR: ...is 0.1.
We're standing by for contact.
NARRATOR: July 29, 2021.
After years of delays,
the uncrewed multi-purpose laboratory module,
or MLM, Nauka
docks with the International Space Station.
It marks the first major expansion to the Russian segment
in over ten years.
Once docking to the Zvezda Service Module is complete,
at Mission Control in Houston,
Zebulon Scoville takes over flight director duties.
SCOVILLE: I did a quick handover and plugged in,
thinking that we were just going to be
doing some minor reconfigurations
and stabilizations of opening hatches,
equalizing the atmospheres, and so forth.
It didn't quite go that way.
About one-and-a-half minutes after plugging in my headset,
a small yellow stripe lit up across the caution warning board
in the front of Mission Control.
My attitude control officer
notifies me that we have a loss of attitude control,
or LOAC.
NARRATOR: For reasons unknown,
the I.S.S. has begun to spin out of control.
SCOVILLE: We saw on the front screens,
the video cameras coming from I.S.S.,
almost a snowstorm of particles
around the outside of the I.S.S.
And it wasn't entirely clear what the source of this was.
This could be
a coolant fluid that had vented,
it could be a fuel or propellant that was leaking overboard,
or it could be thrusters firing.
The fact of the matter is, we didn't know.
And so this is where we had to very quickly try to understand,
what is this venting overboard?
What is it doing to I.S.S.?
How will we, first, make sure this crew is going to be safe
and, second, get the vehicle under control?
MAN (over radio): Station, Houston on 2.
We need you in two decimal seven zero two.
This is an actual.
NARRATOR: French astronaut Thomas Pesquet and his six crewmates
are onboard at the time.
(speaking French)
(translated): "This is not training."
That's the message we don't really want to hear
during a six-month mission.
♪ ♪
SCOVILLE: If a space station spins too fast,
this could introduce several potential hazards.
If it were to flip upside down,
now our antennas, which are normally pointing
towards our communication satellites,
are no longer pointing up.
So we risk losing communication with the space station.
PESQUET (translated): We have solar panels that are
35 meters across and 70 meters long and very, very fragile.
The acceleration of rotating them
will generate centrifugal force,
and that can tear everything apart.
SCOVILLE: We have docking mechanisms
with the crew vehicles that are used as lifeboats.
If we spin too fast,
if we had to undock in an emergency,
those hooks might jam.
PESQUET (translated): It's really very, very dangerous.
A space station is very fragile.
It doesn't even have to carry its weight.
NARRATOR: The advantage of building a station in the vacuum of space
is that you don't have to fight things like wind and gravity,
so the structure can be less sturdy.
The problem is, any unexpected twisting
could break it into pieces.
Ground Control desperately needs to understand
what is causing the I.S.S. to turn.
SCOVILLE: So one of my first questions
was to my life support officer.
(over radio): Are we maintaining cabin atmosphere?
Cabin atmosphere is stable flight.
Okay, what about cooling systems?
Thermal systems are stable flight-- we're looking good.
NARRATOR: The team ticks off a checklist
of possible causes...
(man speaking on radio)
...until a plausible suspect emerges.
SCOVILLE: One of the main and most likely candidates was
that the Nauka module was firing thrusters.
NARRATOR: A software error on the Nauka
means that it doesn't recognize
it has successfully connected to the I.S.S.
(translated): And so it will try
to establish its orientation, to move,
to capture the sun, to recharge its solar panels.
The problem is, it starts to take the whole station with it.
NARRATOR: Nauka's thrusters start firing,
trying to pull away from the space station
it is now securely docked to.
MAN (over radio): Station, Houston on 2.
We are out of attitude by at least 45 degrees and increasing.
NARRATOR: Four huge gyroscopes on board the I.S.S.
keep the station in position.
As the Russian thrusters fight with the space station's gyros,
there's concern that the joints of the aging ship
can't take the strain.
So the decision is made
to shut the gyros down... (alarm beeping)
...reducing the stress on the attachment points
that connect the station's modules together.
The I.S.S. is now in free drift.
And there's an added complication.
SCOVILLE: Unfortunately,
the Nauka module could only communicate with the ground
if the station was physically over the Russian ground sites.
As it was, we were just heading off
of the eastern coast of Russia over the Pacific.
And so we had no insight, no telemetry, no data,
and no ability to command it or turn it off.
We weren't going to get that back for about 90 minutes.
NARRATOR: In Houston, flight controllers listen
to real-time translations of the communications
between Moscow's Mission Control
and the cosmonauts on board the station.
(people speaking Russian over radio)
TRANSLATOR: Oleg, please,
can, can you confirm or not
whether MLM thrusters are still firing?
Do you see,
do you hear anything?
(people speaking Russian)
TRANSLATOR: I can confirm that the thrusters are still firing.
They have just fired, and we could feel it.
(translated): At the time, I don't know if we fully realized
the seriousness of the situation.
♪ ♪
SCOVILLE: We've got one-and-a-half hours
to ride this thing out
before we're going to be able to completely stabilize the system.
At this point, in order to assure
we had every advantage we could,
I declared a spacecraft emergency.
NARRATOR: A spacecraft emergency
ensures that all attention is focused
on the operation at hand.
♪ ♪
All available ground antennas across the U.S.
now attempt to make contact with the I.S.S.
TRANSLATOR (over radio): Oleg, we did not copy your last.
Could you repeat your last?
NARRATOR: But still,
the connection between the ground and space
is patchy and unpredictable.
(people speaking on radio)
And, with the whole I.S.S. structure now turning away
from its communications satellites...
(people speaking on radio)
...U.S. operations are about to lose contact with the crew.
(alarm beeping)
SCOVILLE: We were tracking the space station spin,
and we could predict we had minutes
to communicate several steps of procedure to the crew
before we were going to run out of time.
PESQUET (translated): Step number one,
make sure to secure everything that is outside the station
that can move, that can rotate.
(man speaking on radio)
NARRATOR: The crew are instructed
to lock the station's radiators,
which are at risk of shearing off,
while the solar panels are repositioned.
♪ ♪
Meanwhile, at Mission Control,
the team formulates a plan
to fight back against Nauka's thrusters.
MAN (over radio): We want you to run the procedure...
♪ ♪
SCOVILLE: We knew, as the Nauka module's thrusters were firing,
that we had to bring
a bigger lever arm, a more powerful force,
to bear against these thrusters.
NARRATOR: For that extra muscle,
Ground Control turns to the Zvezda Service Module,
primary source for the I.S.S.'s propulsion systems.
At this time, a cargo ship, Progress 78,
is also docked to the station,
on the opposite side to the misfiring Nauka.
Crucially, both Progress 78 and the Zvezda have thrusters.
SCOVILLE: Now, typically,
there will be days of analysis.
In this specific case, this was unexpected,
and so there was a little bit of engineering judgment
that had to be applied,
recognizing that the alternative and indecision
would have been worse.
NARRATOR: Mission Control makes the decision to fire up
the Zvezda and Progress 78 thrusters
to set up an orbital wrestling match with the Nauka
that they have to win.
♪ ♪
MAN (over radio): Hey, Aki, just to update you guys,
so right now we're in a little bit of a tug-of-war
between thrusters firing from both the SM and the MLM.
And we're sorting through the best course of action,
uh, right now.
At this point, we have no further actions for you.
NARRATOR: For nearly 45 minutes,
the I.S.S. drifts out of control.
A combined effort of the Zvezda and Progress 78 modules
pushes back against Nauka.
It's putting huge strain on the space station's structure.
SCOVILLE: This was like riding a bucking bronco
and we've got to make it the full eight seconds,
except this time,
it was in orbit around the entire Earth.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: It will be another 45 minutes before Russian controllers
can regain command of Nauka's thrusters.
♪ ♪
But then, all of a sudden...
♪ ♪
MAN (over radio): Aki, uh, we can report
that the MLM thrusters are no longer firing.
We are back in attitude control.
Rates are stable.
AKIHIKO HOSHIDE: Okay, copy.
NARRATOR: Nauka's thrusters fall silent.
Its fuel tanks have run dry.
The tug-of-war is over.
♪ ♪
SCOVILLE: As we brought the space station back to normal attitude,
I think we all took a, a deep sigh of relief.
NARRATOR: After rotating one-and-a-half times, around 540 degrees,
mission controllers can finally bring the station to a halt
and begin a controlled return to its correct attitude.
SCOVILLE: The team that I had working in the control center that day
was an example of performance
that to this day I will always remember.
Not because we did everything perfect,
but because of how we came together.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: Since its launch in 1998,
the I.S.S. has been humanity's laboratory in the sky.
BUCHLI: Over the past 25 years,
we have served over 5,000 researchers
on the International Space Station,
conducted over 4,000 different experiments...
...and published right around 4,000 papers.
ALIBARUHO: The fact that we've learned so much,
not just about technology, but about ourselves,
as a result of the I.S.S.,
that's a legacy that's not to be denied
or discounted in any way.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: For many, the value of the I.S.S.
goes far beyond the physical.
It's about perspective,
hope,
and the shared pursuit of something greater.
PARMITANO: The space station
is not just a place where we produce science,
but it's a place of emotions.
It is a place of humanity.
A place where we brought with us our own dreams.
♪ ♪
PESQUET (translated): It's absolutely phenomenal.
There is a technical feat,
but I think that the dream and the conception of the world,
a bit of multilateralism and scientific cooperation
between the countries behind it,
which for me, are even more beautiful.
CHARI: A quarter-century of peaceful cooperation,
multiple countries,
multiple organizations,
all working with the focus of trying to make humanity better,
to me, that seems like a pretty powerful and lasting legacy.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: But with aging technology
and the advent of new, more efficient space platforms,
the station's days are numbered.
SCOVILLE: The I.S.S. was never meant
to be a permanent structure in space.
NARRATOR: The International Space Station
is scheduled to begin its final chapter in 2030.
♪ ♪
SCOVILLE: About a year and a half before the space station deorbits,
we will launch a crew that will stay there for a year.
They will be in charge
of getting the last bits of science and engineering we can
out of this facility.
♪ ♪
About six months prior to the deorbit process,
that crew will come home,
leaving the space station uncrewed
as its altitude starts to lower.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: A deorbit vehicle will attach to the I.S.S.
and gently guide the station into a slow, deliberate descent,
where it will enter the thick layers of Earth's atmosphere
at speeds over 17,000 miles per hour.
♪ ♪
Experiencing temperatures close to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
♪ ♪
SCOVILLE: We know some of it will burn up,
but large pieces of it will survive
through the atmospheric re-entry,
and that's why we want to make sure
that it's a controlled process,
so we safely hit the Pacific Ocean.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: The I.S.S.'s fiery disintegration
will be the final act in its incredible journey.
♪ ♪
But the lessons we learn from its time in space,
the technologies developed,
and the unity it represents
will echo in future space exploration
for generations to come.
RENITA FINCKE: The I.S.S. is not just
a international laboratory that's orbiting in space.
It's much, much more than that.
♪ ♪
LAWRENCE: No matter where we come from,
no matter the differences in political systems
and the leaders that we have,
we really can work together.
We have that ability.
♪ ♪
CASSIDY: It's just really fun to think
about the future of space exploration
and to know that I was, in a small way,
part of the International Space Station's story.
♪ ♪
The International Space Station
is the crowning achievement of human ingenuity so far.
(static hissing)
(device beeps)
♪ ♪