NASA (the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was unable to connect with the International Space Station because there was a problem with the power at the mission control center.
NASA’s Mission Control in Houston experienced a short power outage on Tuesday, which caused the space agency to temporarily lose communication with the International Space Station (ISS). Yet, they managed to stay connected with the astronauts on the spacecraft using the communication methods offered by the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos.
The issue with power at Mission Control in Houston affected their ability to send instructions, get information from the ISS, and talk to the astronauts there. But don’t worry, the astronauts and the space station were safe during this. The control center on the ground had a small problem, but they made sure the astronauts were fine on the space station.
Joel Montalbano, who manages the space station program, said the issue wasn’t on the space station itself, but with the systems on the ground. He said they were ready for this kind of thing and had backup plans if they were needed. They also need these backup plans during hurricane season in case they have to close the main control center.
NASA has another control center in a different place not far from Houston, just in case something really bad happens and they can’t use the main center. But during this power problem, the people controlling the mission stayed where they were and handled things well.
This was the first time they had to use their backup plans and it only took an hour and a half to switch over. The astronauts found out about what was happening 20 minutes after the power went out because the Russian space agency’s communication systems still worked.