Mission Control Loses Contact with International Space Station

By Nancy Atkinson - February 19, 2013 at 4:46 PM UTC | Missions
International-Space-Station-ISS.jpg

Today at about 9:45 a.m. EST (15:45 UTC) the International Space Station experienced a loss of communication with the Mission Control in Houston, and at this writing, communication has yet to be re-established. When communication was lost, flight controllers in Houston were updating the software onboard the station's flight computers, and one of the station's data relay systems malfunctioned. The primary computer that controls critical station functions defaulted to a backup computer, but was not allowing the station to communicate with NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, NASA said.

Update:

according to the

Johnson Space Center Twitter feed,

communications have been restored with the space station effective 11:34 am central time (17:34 UTC).

Flight controllers were able to communicate with the crew as the space station flew over Russian ground stations before 11:00 a.m. EST and instructed the crew to connect a backup computer to begin the process of restoring communications. Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford reported that the station's status was fine and that the crew was doing well.

"Hey, just FYI, the station is still flying straight, everybody is in good shape, or course, and nothing unexpected except lots of caution and warning [alarms]," Ford said. "All the systems look like they are doing just fine." Listen to the recording of his call

here.

The loss occurred just prior to NASA TV's regular broadcast of space station activities, and commentator Brandi Dean said, "We are able to see some data on the ground to let us know that everything is still good on the station and everything is going well with the procedures to re-establish communications with the ground."

Dean said communication is expected to re-established within an hour, but we'll provide updates if more problems persist.

In an uncanny coincidence (or prescience), Canadian astronaut

Chris Hadfield Tweeted this morning

, "Good Morning, Earth! Today we transition the Space Station's main computers to a new software load. Nothing could possibly go wrong."

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com