International Space Station mistakenly rotates by 57 degrees as film shooting continues

While the International Space Station is busy hosting a film crew, American astronauts on board had to sound alarm as the ISS was mistakenly rotated.

An error by the Russian cosmonauts on the ISS ended up in the ISS rotating by nearly 57 degrees. The error happened while engine testing was taking place. This error forced the American astronauts on board to send a distress signal.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The error happened when Russian cosmonauts were testing Soyuz MS-18, a spacecraft that is right now docked to the ISS. The thrust from the engine testing caused the satellite to rotate by 57 degrees.

Soyuz MS-18 is the spacecraft that is docked to the ISS to bring the film crew back to Earth. ISS is currently hosting director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild, who are visiting the outer space station to shoot a feature film. Titled 'The Challenge', the movie will be the first film to be shot in outer space.

WATCH |

While the American astronauts went signals of distress immediately after the movement, the head of the Russian segment of ISS, Vladimir Solovyov, said it was "no big deal" and it was not a huge or very serious problem.

However, the space agency chief Dmitry Rogozintold off Solovyov for the error. "Oleg, never mind, so what if the station was rotated 57 degrees,"he told cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, who was present at the ISS when the error took place and will be commanding the spacecraft. "Dmitry Olegovich [Rogozin] has already chided me for it."

The crew is expected to come back to the Earth this weekend.