It is not a good appearance.
Change of orientation
Today, the Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported that the Soyuz spacecraft caused an orientation change for the International Space Station. This was the second incident involving a Russian-made spacecraft. The station has been spinning unexpectedly since July.
Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, tweeted that the station's orientation was affected by SoyuzMS18 engine testing. The ISS orientation was therefore temporarily altered. Thanks to the efforts of the ISS Russian Segment Chief Operating Control Group specialists, the station's orientation was quickly restored.
Although it is not clear how fast the ISS spun out, it was safe to assume that nobody was hurt.
Roscosmos' Energia Space Rocket Corporation stated that the station and crew are safe.
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Spin Again
This is the second such incident in recent months. The entire station spun one-and-a half times when Russia's Nauka module suddenly fired its thrusters after docking with the ISS in July.
The July incident was the first time that NASA flight director Zebulon Scott Scoville had to declare an emergency for a spacecraft, which he later acknowledged to The New York Times.
After their weeklong stay onboard the ISS, the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft which caused the erratic behavior was scheduled to bring Yulia Peresild (actor) and Klim Shipenko (director) back to Earth.
The spacecraft was briefly ridden by three astronauts late last month in order to move it for Persild's and Shipenko's arrival.
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Russia claims that nobody was at risk in today's blunder, but repeated errors don't inspire confidence.
Read more about the July incident: Crisis Briefly Spins International Space Station out of Control
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