Russia’s newly launched International Space Station module Nauka continues to be within the combat as of Friday afternoon, as early studies point out that the module’s backup engines have fired efficiently. That’s an enormous aid for Roscosmos, which practically noticed its long-awaited module develop into a tragic piece of area trivia as a substitute of the latest piece of the International Space Station. But it’s not out of the woods but.

The first glitch in Nauka’s journey occurred yesterday, when the spacecraft didn’t full its first orbit-raising burn. This meant that the uncrewed Nauka wasn’t on monitor to really intercept the ISS, which it’s scheduled to dock with on Thursday, July 29. The drawback was attributed to a software program subject in a pc aboard Nauka, which prevented the spacecraft’s primary engines from firing. Nauka’s crew was in a position to handle a distant course correction, however a second bout in fact corrections had been deemed vital, and scheduled for at present. One early report from journalist Anatoly Zak indicated that one of many spacecraft’s engines sputtered again to life in a mission. The “backup engine seems to have fired fine,” mentioned Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist on the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in an electronic mail at present, although he added that the standing of the engines was not but sure and it will possible be a couple of hours earlier than a brand new dataset from Nauka verified the state of affairs.

The thrusters are only one piece of the engineering puzzle, so the brand new module is hardly dwelling free. Nauka’s additionally been having points with one antenna and its docking goal, and its unsure how these points will have an effect on docking makes an attempt, SpaceNews reported. “Apparently there is still an issue with the Kurs rendezvous system, and that is pretty critical for docking,” McDowell mentioned, including that the spacecraft’s TORU system—which permits the astronauts aboard the ISS help with the docking—is working usually.

For now, the Pirs docking compartment is presently sitting in Nauka’s assigned dock on the ISS. Pirs’ scheduled undocking to make approach for the brand new module was postponed from Friday to Sunday, according to RussianSpaceWeb.

“It is not unusual for complex spacecraft to have teething troubles. However, the number and severity of problems on this flight is above the norm, and perhaps this is not too surprising given the long delays in the development of the vehicle. Nevertheless, I am moderately optimistic that they will eventually complete a successful docking, although not necessarily on the first attempt,” McDowell mentioned.

Keep your eyes on this spacecraft. There’s actually a twist or two left on this story.

More: Russia Averts Possible Disaster as New Space Station Module Finally Reaches Proper Orbit